


The Little Merman

by sillypandalover91



Series: Disneytalia [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/M, M/M, Movie Adaptation, Part of my Disneytalia series, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:44:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4518858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillypandalover91/pseuds/sillypandalover91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Up where they walk, up were they run, up where they stay all day in the sun wondering and free. England wishes he could be part of their world. Upon saving America from drowning, this young merman will stop at nothing obtain his affection, even going as far as trading his voice for a pair of legs. AU and human names used.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm sillypandalover91 from ff.net. I'm transferring over my stories onto this website. I'll update the story daily but if you would like to go ahead and read the whole thing, you can find the finished story there. Thank you and please enjoy!

"Please don't die. Please don't die. Please don't die." The mantra was being repeated desperately in a hushed voice as green eyes never left the sunflower. A red tail worked overtime in effort to reach the agreed upon location while the man watched in horror when yellow petals began to fall off. Already the stem was turning black from the exposure to such high concentration of salt but what could he do? He wanted it no… _needed_ it to live long enough to get it to his benefactor, else he'd suffer and everything he's gained would be lost. With that in mind, Antonio swam faster towards the mouth of a cave located dangerously close to a hotspot.

The water was beginning to increase in temperature the closer he got to the cave; bubbles spewed from neighboring mounds as if to demonstrate just how hot the water was. Antonio winced in pain, the skin on his torso was reddening from the heat and the delicate portion of his fin was beginning to sting. Despite this, he pushed himself further and was surprised when the water suddenly became cool. 'Gracias al Rey,' he thought to himself in relief. The cool water was blessing to his skin and he smiled. Perhaps the sea warlock wasn't as cruel as he thought. Antonio saw a glow of light and followed it; his heartbeat increasing in speed as he grew closer and surfaced into a pocket within the cave. Looking down at the flower he paled. "No. Oh no. No, no,no," he cried in horror.

"What's wrong, comrade? You didn't have a hard time finding the place, did you?" Antonio shivered at the overly friendly voice. "Oh, was the water too hot? I'm sorry; I did cool the water around us but well," Ivan glanced over his shoulder as he lounged inside a crater where the water was obviously hotter than the water lapping against Antonio's back, " _I_ personally love warm water."

Antonio watched as two mermaids reached around and fed the warlock live shrimp, the poor creatures looking at him desperate for help. Antonio feared for his own safety to take theirs into consideration so he waited patiently for Ivan to finish. Ivan closed his lips around Natalya's fingers, making her blush and rush to get another one but her sister, Natasha, beat her to it. With a smirk, the merman flicked his black tail in contentment before hoisting himself out of the crater to drag himself closer to the edge, "Tell me then, comrade, did you bring me what I asked for?"

Looking down at his hands, Antonio sheepishly brought out the wilted flower, "I-I tried. Believe me I tried but every time I brought one with me, it would die. Please, give me more time. I'm sure I'll figure out a way and-"

Ivan took the dead flower and frowned. "More time? The contract specifically stated that you would only have three days to complete your end of the deal. I held up my end, da? I gave you strength. I made desirable so that your lover would pay more attention to you." His face darkened, "I gave you everything you asked for and _this_ is how you repay me?" He shoved the dead flower in Antonio's face, "You're mocking me aren't you?"

Antonio frantically waved his hands in defense, "No! I'd never do that, Ivan. Please, I can make this work if you just give me another chance."

Cheery violet eyes looked over to his sisters, "Natasha. Natalya." The mermaids came closer and laid on either side of their brother, heads cocked in question. "What do you girls think? Should I give him another chance?"

"No brother. A deal is a deal," spoke Natasha quietly eying the flower with disgust. She ran a hand through his platinum hair.

"I agree with big sister, you should take care of him now, big brother." Natalya slapped her sister's hand away and placed a yellow flower in her brother's hair.

Ivan nodded in approval. "Well, you heard them. I'm sorry, comrade but a deal is a deal. It's such a shame really. You should've known that bringing sunflowers into the sea would only be sentencing them to death. Poor things."

Antonio stopped shaking when he realized what the warlock had said. "Y-you knew that would happen? That they would die?"

"Of course. Everyone knows that flowers from the surface can't handle the amount of salt in sea water. And the hotspot water would only kill the flower faster because it's too hot." Ivan smiled pleasantly, his eyes closing with cheerfulness.

"You cheater! You tricked me!" The teenaged merman felt himself grown angry. "How could you-"

"Ah-ah-ah. You brought this upon yourself." When Antonio made a move to flee, Ivan jumped in and grabbed him. "You weren't thinking of leaving so soon where you? You still need to pay me for my services." His hands glowed an eerie purple as he ran them through the panicking merman's hair, down his face, chest and tail. Antonio clenched his eyes in pain when he felt a burning sensation on his back and cried out when he felt his body convulse. Ivan backed away to watch with his sisters as his dark magic worked. "This business transaction is complete, da?"

* * *

**~Three Weeks Later ~**

All of Atlantica was in mourning of their late King yet they watched proudly as their crown prince Robert, eldest of King Triton's sons, was being crowned as their new King. His golden tail curled underneath him, the tip fanning out delicately, as he waited for his close friend, Roderich, to place the crown upon his head. Usually it was the duty fell upon a member of the court to crown the prince but the last remaining member had also died, leaving behind two grandsons. As it were, the oldest grandson was mourning not only the loss of his grandfather but also the disappearance of his lover. The youngest was far too young to be able to perform such an important task and was also mourning his grandfather.

"All hail King Robert, King of the seven seas and sole wielder of the powerful trident," shouted Toris, the royal herold. Applause erupted from the citizens of Atlantica as they cheered for Robert.

The red-headed merman swam before them and raised the Trident in his right hand. Serious green eyes were fighting back tears at feeling the weight of the golden crown on his head that once sat on his beloved fathers. "Thank you. I vow to always keep Atlantica safe from harm. I will find who is responsible for the disappearances, this I promise you. My father left behind a legacy that I can only hope to live up to and as my first decree as your king, and in honor of my father, I forbid anyone from going to the surface." Nobody dared to argue against that. They understood and honestly saw it coming; had it not been for the surface and its dwellers, the king's father would still be alive. And so would the last member of the court who had died protecting him.

When the ceremony ended, Robert sat on his throne. Roderich swam to him followed closely by a brunette with a curl fly away. Robert stared at it wondering how it was possible for that single curl to stay that way in the water. Then again perhaps it would be best if he didn't question it, in all his years knowing the Italian merman, it had always done that. Lovino brought his hands across his chest, his face in a scowl but both Robert and Roderich could see the pain in his eyes. "I take it Antonio hasn't returned," asked the king, hands running across the trident.

"No and to be frank, I'm starting to think he just left me. Not that I blame him, I can be an ass," Lovi looked away and Roderich had to bite his tongue to echo the statement. The men made small talk until Toris swam in frantically.

"Forgive me your majesty," he panted, "But the guards have new information on the disappearances." Toris handed over a ledger with information to Roderich who glanced it over. "It would seem that all signs point to…t-to Mr.I-I-I"

"Ivan," finished Roderich. He gave the ledger Robert so that he could see for himself. "Ivan is the teacher at the Atlantica Academy. He teaches witchcraft. I know because I use to attend the school as a child. Lovi did too if I recall."

"That guy was weird. His sisters are ever weirder. I remember failing the class; I never was very good at with all that hocus pocus nonsense," muttered Lovi, his tail twitching with irritation. "He said he could make me stronger if I made a deal with him but old grandpa taught me better than that. Said 'Lovi, if you only learn one thing from me let it be this: Never make deals with crazy. I've lived by that creed and so far I've been fine."

Roderich chuckled at that. He remembered meeting Lovi's grandfather a couple of times and the merman had always been offering strange yet helpful advice. "I agree. Ivan is a little strange. He threatened to turn me into a sea urchin because I was busy writing symphonies during class instead of helping him with the end of term project. He was my partner in class, though not my instructor. I pity your luck, Lovino."

"Shut up. I'm going to go see to supper. Good luck with Ivan, your majesty." Lovino took Toris's arm and dragged him out of the throne room.

Robert looked away from the ledger, eyes darkening. "Do you think this is true? Do you think Ivan's capable of this?"

"I have no doubt in my mind," answered Roderich, " It wouldn't be the first time Ivan's made deals with merfolk and it certainly won't be the last. Lovi's right, the merman is bad news."

"Do you think that others like him will rise to what he's done?"

"Others? You mean like Lovino and myself?"

"No. I trust you and him. The others, not so much."

"Your brother, young Arthur, has the talent as well, your majesty. And unlike myself and Lovi, he has great potential. His tail is already showing the coloring that marks magic prone merfolk." Roderich looked down to his own tail. The plum scales reflected pale lilac and lightened in color as it reached his fin but along the base, where tail became fin, there was a ring of black scales. He glanced at his friend with a raised eyebrow, "What do you plan to do about that?"

Robert rolled his eyes, "It's simple really. I'm going to place a ban on magic in Atlantica. Those who wish to stay will be sealed so that they can't practice magic. You…you wouldn't mind that would you? Do you think Lovino would?"

"His majesty is kind to think of us but no. We wouldn't mind. As you know, I prefer my music and Lovi prefers to cook in your kitchen. Not mention leaving Atlantica would prove too much heart break for him and his brother."

"Indeed. Speaking of brothers, where's mine?"

Before Roderich had a chance to speak a guard swam in, "Your majesty. Ivan has been located."

"Finally, some good news. Have you apprehended him?"

"No, sir. You see the young prince is with him. Prince Arthur is…he's being instructed, sir." The merman flicked his fin nervously, "he's being instructed in magic." He watched as his king clutched the trident tightly in his hands. He saluted in response to the unasked question and began to lead the king towards where his men had found Ivan. "He's just over here, your majesty."

Sure enough they found the sea warlock in the royal playroom. Ivan sat on a rock near Arthur while the boy arranged runes in order. The older blond merman nodded in approval, "Da, that's very good. Very good. Oh, hello Robert," he said with a smile. "Did you come to learn from me as well?"

Robert pulled his little brother away and snarled at Ivan, "Don't you dare come near my brother or family again. As a matter of a fact I don't want you here anymore. From here on out you are banished from Atlantica. You and any other merfolk who refuse to have their power sealed. Leave now! You are here by exiled do you hear me? Exiled!" He turned to the guard, "You make sure my orders are carried out."

"B-but big brother," started Arthur with tears welling in his eyes, "He wasn't doing anything wrong. I like magic."

Roderich took him in his arms, being mindful of the little prince's fin, "Come on, Arthur. Leave your brother to his duties. I have someone I'd like for you to meet." With a nod to the Robert, he swam towards Arthur's room. The little merchild was crying softly in his arms. "He's doing it because he thinks its for the best, little one. We're going to be sealed so don't worry we won't be banished."

"It's not that," Arthur sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "I'm alone now. Dad's dead. Ivan is being banished. I have no one."

The older man blinked in confusion. "No one? You have six brothers and a whole nation who loves you. How can you say you're lonely?"

"Yeah, and they're all older than me and they pick on me." He sighed and looked away, "Just leave me. I want to be alone." The boy curled up in his bed, a large clam with purple sheets and pillows. He held tight to a green sponge shaped into a seahorse, a gift from his father. When he heard Rodrich sigh and leave he started to cry some more. "It's not fair. Bugger all, it's not fair." A timid knock startled the little prince and he curled into himself, "G-go away!" The knocking became a bit more insistent and Arthur puffed his cheeks in annoyance. Grumbling to himself, he swam angrily to the door, "I said go aw-oh…I'm sorry I thought you were Rodrich." He watched the little boy in front of him poke his fingers sadly. His eyes fell on the satchel wrapped around him. "Um, are you lost?"

They boy shook his head, "No. My brother told me to come here."

"You're brother?"

"Lovino. He's your chef here. Roderich and him are friends, I think," he added as an after thought not meeting the blonde's green eyes. "They told me to stay in here."

Arthur nodded but didn't really understand why they would send a stranger to his room. He moved aside and motioned for him to come in. Feli did so, albeit slowly. Arthur watched Feli's tail move on its own accord and the boy sat on the ground. "You can sit on the bed if you want. It's big enough for the both of us." Feli moved onto the bed and hugged the bag to his chest. "What's in there?"

"My treasure."

"Treasure? Like pirate treasure? I heard they're pretty scary."

"No, it's just my special things. I wasn't allowed to bring much with me after…after my grandpa died," mumbled Feli with tears welling in his eyes. Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort. He did after all know what the poor boy was going through. "They're things my grandpa and I collected from the surface."

The surface? This intrigued the young prince and he sat next Feli. "Really? Can I see?" He watched as Feli's face changed into an excited on as he emptied the contents of the bag onto the bed. There were only a handful of goodies and to some it may not look like much but to the Arthur, it was as if he'd stumbled upon a whole new world. "What's all this?"

"I don't really know honestly. I just know that this," he picked up a compass, "lets you know where you are when you're lost. And this, "He picked up a telescope, "lets you see things from far away. There's also this, "He picked up a comb, "I don't know what this is but it looks cool."

Arthur took it from him and inspected it closely, "It looks like it's to play with the sand. Like maybe you run it on the sand and it makes lines and you can make fun things. Or even just to plant more seaweed!"

"Hey, that's a good idea. I never thought about it. Here you can have this one." Feli handed him a little figurine of two people dancing. "It makes noise when you move them. Look." He placed it on the bed and took ahold of the man's foot to make him twirl. A little chime from inside played a tune as he completed the cycle.

"What about this?" Arthur reached for a sea shelled box but Feli was quick to grab it. The blond blinked in surprise.

"I'm sorry. It's just that this is my most specialist treasure ever. My friend gave it to me." He opened the box to reveal a black iron cross. "I met him on the surface and he gave this to me."

Well now, Arthur was all ears. "Please, tell me about it. What's it like? What was this human like? Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Prince Arthur, but you can just call me Arthur. What's your name?"

"My name is Feliciano but you can call me Feli. All my friends do." He looked at Arthur's ruby scaled tail and saw the black along the sides of his fin. "Are you a magic merman?"

Arthur looked away sadly, "I am but I'm not going to be anymore. Big brother is going to seal away my magic abilities."

"I'm sorry. My brother can do magic too, or at least he had the ability to. I don't think he liked it much. Anyway, my grandpa and I use to play near the surface all the time. He had a crush on this blond human but he never got the nerve to say anything."

"Why?"

"He was married and had two sons. The littlest one's name was Ludwig. He's my friend I was telling you about. I think they're really nice creatures. Grandpa's crush use to give him sweet wine and tasty food and play music while grandpa sang. When he introduced his wife…well, grandpa got sad and never went to see him again. I think the man was sad too cause every time I'd go up to play with Ludwig he'd ask me about him." He traced the edges of the cross then looked at Arthur. He smiled when he saw that the prince's eyes were wide with wonder. "Ludwig gave me this as a promise that we'd always be together forever but then…when I went again a few weeks ago after my grandpa d-died, he wasn't there. No one was there. They'd gone a-a-away," Feli broke down into sobs and Arthur quickly hugged him.

"Don't cry, Feli. I'll be your friend."

"Really?"

"Of course!" Arthur rubbed his new friend's back, "And maybe we can go treasure hunting for more things like these."

"Ok!"

Over the course of the week Feli and Arthur grew closer at an alarming rate, yet Robert was highly thankful that his youngest brother had found someone to keep his mind off all the changes that where happening around him. A fourth of Atlantica's magical merpeople had left due to his ban on magic use aside of the Trident. The rest of them had allowed him to seal the power away, the black markings on their tails and fins lightening into silver. A mark on their arms, chest or back was the only proof that they had undergone the procedure.

Roderich eyed his pectoral with distaste, "Really? Couldn't you have put it somewhere else?"

The King smirked, "What don't like it? I think it suits you." He poked at the music note on his friend's chest. "I could've given you something else. Want me to change it?" Roderich sighed and shook his head no.

"How did Arthur take it?"

"He did fine. Feli's with him in their room."

Feli swam closer to his friend as Arthur laid on his bed, "Did it hurt?"

"Not really. It just felt funny to have the color drain from my fin. Does it look bad," asked Arthur flipping his fin about.

The little brunette waved the bubbles away and shook his head, "I think it looks pretty. I wish my tail was red like yours."

"But your tail is prettier than mine! I like how it fades to other colors at the fin." Feli laid next to him with his little arms over his head. "Hey, Feli?"

"Hmm?"

"Let's go to the surface one day. Promise that if either one of gets a chance to, we won't go without the other." Arthur played with the edge of his pillow as he waited for his friend's response.

"Can I look for Ludwig if we do," he asked after a while.

"Sure." He turned over onto his side so that he could look Feli in the eye and reached out his pinkie finger. "Promise?"

"Promise."


	2. Mysterious Fathoms Below

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Cast:
> 
> America/Alfred: 19
> 
> Americat/Max: 1 year old
> 
> Canada/ Matthew: 19
> 
> Britain/Arthur: 18
> 
> Italy/Feliciano: 18
> 
> Germany/Ludwig: 19
> 
> Prussia/Gilbert: 21
> 
> Austria/ Rodrich: 30
> 
> Scotland/Robert: 32
> 
> N. Ireland/ Connor: 22
> 
> S. Ireland/ Murphy: 22
> 
> Whales/David: 20
> 
> New Zealand/ Kyle: 24
> 
> Australia/Christian: 27

**~10 Years Later ~**

Nets tugged at the pulley, signifying that they were full and ready to board the ship. Calloused hands from life at sea heaved the heavy load. Rough as it may be, the crew wouldn't trade their profession for the world. Best part of all was their Princes, Alfred and Matthew; such men of their kind were rare to come by. Royalty willing to partake in voyages that were…not quite fit for a royal to say the least and to actually help keep the ship in top shape was nearly unheard of and yet, here they were. Finer leaders, they would find none. Still, one would have to do something to pass the time. So one of the sailors began to sing as he pulled, "Heave-ho, heave-ho; I'll sing you a song of the king of the sea. And it's hey to the starboard, heave-ho. The ruler of all of the ocean is he in mysterious fathoms below."

The crew, familiar with the song, sang along with him, "Fathoms below, below from whence wayward westerlies blow. Where Triton is king and his merpeople sing in mysterious fathoms below."

Soft sea spray misted Alfred's pale cheeks as he leaned forward over the ship. With a hand firmly griping some rope, and another holding his cat in place on his shoulder, he closed his eyes in pleasure at the cool mist and the scent of salt water. He giggled when he saw a family of dolphins skip alongside of his ship, "Look, Mattie, dolphins! Isn't the sea great?! What with the salty sea air and wind blowing in your face." He watched as seagulls and pelicans dove into the water to catch some fish. Alfred tossed them some chunks of bread.

Matthew moaned in agony, his hand over his mouth. Poor thing he looked absolutely miserable with his head hung over the edge. He looked up at his brother, "Oh, yes," he dry heaved and emptied his stomach over the side, "Delightful." The younger twin wiped his mouth with his handkerchief as he sat down on a barrel. He raised an eyebrow at his brother's un-princely like behavior and sighed, "Alfred, please come off of there. You're going to get hurt."

"No, I'm no-woah!" Alfred slid off the ledge and laughed at his brother's panic stricken face. "Just kidding. Come on, Mattie. Loosen up! I'm a hero remember; it's going to take more than a slippery ledge to take me down." Max meowed in agreement.

Matthew groaned and buried his face in his knees. "You have Ludwig to protect you. Besides, the ledge is slippery because of this terrible storm. I hate it! It's making the ship move more than it should and it's making me seasick."

"Keseseseses~ don't be like that, Birdie, it's just a bit of a drizzle. Now see that way over yonder? _That's_ a storm. Right here, right now, there's a fine strong wind and a following sea. Old Fritz must be a good mood this morning," said Gilbert smacking the young prince on his back. The albino tugged at the ropes to tighten the sails. He ducked when a fish went soaring by his head. "Oi, West, don't be wasting the grub! I'm going to need it for tonight's feast." Gilbert sent a dark look over to his young brother, one that the blond returned.

"I wouldn't be 'wasting' it if you got the name right. Don't listen to him, Prince Alfred, my bruder is an idiot. He meant to say _King Triton_ was in a good mood," said Ludwig with a straight face, ignoring his brother's eye roll.

The twin princes exchanged curious glances, "King Triton," the asked in unison.

Ludwig nodded and continued to sort out their catch. "Yes, he's king of the merpeople." He smirked and pointed at his charge with a fish, "Every good sailor should know that."

When the royal twins looked like they were going to ask for more information on merpeople, Gilbert intervened. "Pay him no mind, Birdie. He's not all there in the head. Hasn't been since he was a kid and almost drowned. He kept saying some nonsense about how some little merbrat saved him."

"He did!"

"There is no such thing as merfolk," continued Gilbert bringing an arm around Matthew, completely ignoring the annoyed glare his brother was sending him. "It's just a bunch of nautical nonsense."

"It's not nonsense; a merboy really _did_ save me. They live down in the depths of the ocean, bruder."

"Yeah, whatever." He winked at Matthew and pointed at his brain with his index finger, twisting it in the universal 'he's-insane' motion.

"I can see you, Gilbert. I'm not crazy. I'm telling you the truth!" Ludwig tossed him another fish, this time actually making contact. The albino sputtered as the tuna squirmed in his grasp and slapped his face a few times before managing to jump back into the water. Gilbert looked at it in dismay before turning to glare once again at his brother. Ludwig huffed and continued to sort out the fish for that nights birthday feast.

The tuna sighed in relief when it was a few good feet away from the ship. He looked up and could vaguely see two figures wrestling. 'Humans', it thought, 'such strange creatures.' The tuna offered a moment of silence for his fallen brethren and prayed that some would be as lucky as him to be tossed at the strange human with red eyes. It seemed that he wasn't very good at catching which would increase their chances of survival. So long as they slap him about first. With those parting thoughts he made his way to deeper water to wait out the ship so that he wouldn't get caught in the fishing nets again. Perhaps he could go to Atlantica; wasn't there supposed to be a concert today? Thinking hard as to why King Robert would hold a concert so soon after the last one the tuna remembered. Ah yes! Today was the debut of Prince Arthur. With a smile he decided that yes, perhaps it would be for the best if he went to Atlantica after all.

And so, the tuna swam deeper into the dark fathoms below, where the beautiful blue of his surroundings turned darker. He swam past schools of other fishes, past fields of seaweed, only stopping momentarily for a bloom of jellyfish to cross. Pointing his nose downward he descended a trench where he waved hello to a blue whale friend of his and her daughter as they swam by him, the whale's eyes lighting up in joy. The tuna, suddenly felt himself being held delicately around his midriff, looked up and saw a smiling face look back down. He relaxed his fins, allowing himself to be carried the rest of the way to Atlantica by the merman and watched as other merfolk, women, children and men alike, flocked towards the underwater city.

Giggles caught the tuna's attention, making him turn his head around enough to see mermaids chasing each other and mermen racing to the mouth of a glowing cave. His 'ride' was one of the mermen partaking and with a wink as a sole warning, the tuna held on tightly as the merman increased his speed, his copper fin flicking violently, in effort to win the race. The tuna covered his eyes with his side fins in fear. A gentle tap not a moment later coaxed the tuna to uncover his eyes to reveal that he was already at the gates of Atlantica.

"I hope I didn't scare you too much Tuna-san. I'm afraid I allowed my siblings get the best of me but we did win," spoke the merman who had carried him. "Now if you excuse me, I must sit with my friend. Please do enjoy the concert. I hear it's going to be quite a performance."

Merfolk and sea creatures gathered around and found their seats in the royal concert hall. The tuna found his cousin amongst the members of the orchestra and waved. His cousin managed a wave back while balancing a coral shaped like a flute. Members of the audience settled down when seahorses, dressed in the royal tabard, aligned themselves next to Toris and blew into their horns.

Toris cleared his throat, "Introducing our host for the evening, the lord of the seven seas and sole wielder of the Trident, His Royal Highness, King Robert!" Mermen and mermaids alike stood on their tails to clap energetically for their king as he entered on a large shell chariot pulled by dolphins. He nodded at his subjects with a kind smile and waved the Trident to light the chandelier above them. The dolphins pulled his chariot onto the royal balcony before detaching themselves from the reigns and taking their leave. Toris cleared his throat again, "and now presenting the distinguished court composer, the illustrious, the talented Roderich!"

Roderich struggled to keep a hold of his dolphin drawn chariot but managed to keep them swimming at a steady pace. He waved politely at the audience giving him a standing ovation and kept an aloof face, though on the inside, he was grinning broadly and his ego was inflated beyond relief. The dolphins pulled him towards Robert so that the King could bless his baton

The redheaded merman grinned and gave his friend a friendly smack on the back , "Can't wait for tonight's performance, Roddy. My brother's said it's going to be amazing."

Roderich shuffled through his composition, "Indeed. This is concert is going to be the finest one I've ever conducted. You're brothers will be fantast-woah!" He clutched his paper tightly with one hand while the other held on to the reigns of his rowdy dolphins. When he struggled to right himself, Roderich felt Robert's large hands steady him. "Thank you, your majesty."

Robert laughed boisterously and settled in his seat. "No worries. I look forward to seeing my little brothers sing. Especially little Artie."

"Arthur does have a very lovely singing voice," said Roderich as he ushered his dolphins to his post while muttering to himself, "if only he bothered to show up to rehearsal once in a while." The lights dimmed, with a sole spotlight on him. The audience marveled at how his dark purple tail reflected lavender in the light as he readied the orchestra. Tapping the end of his baton on the stand he raised his arms, the orchestra watching carefully before playing the notes off their music sheet.

Three large clams rose from under the stage when the curtain of bubbles pulled away. They opened soundlessly to reveal mermen, who smiled at the audience and broke into song, "Ah, we are the brothers of Robert; great brother who loves us and raised us well." They looked up at Robert who beamed with pride. "There's Christian," the oldest merman with a red-orange and white tail twirled out of his shell. "Kyle." A blond merman smiled shyly at the audience and also twirled out of the clam while vocalizing in the mist of his brothers powerful voices. "Murphy. Connor." Twin mermen held hands and circled around their second youngest brother. "David." The five brothers swam to the fourth clam that had risen higher than their own. The looked at the audience with mischievous smiles, "And then there is the youngest in his musical debut." Robert leaned over his seat in excitement. "Our seventh little brother, we're presenting him to you. To sing a song Roderich wrote, his voice is like a bell. He's our brother, Arth-ah…hmm." The red-headed twins covered their mouths to hide a snigger while Kyle face palmed. Christian snorted and cast his brother Robert a look.

Roderich snapped his baton in half from his annoyance. He knew it. He knew he should have locked the prince in that damn clam. He knew it! He looked up at the balcony and he knew that the king shared his feelings on the matter. Robert's eyes green eyes flared into an emerald, his Trident glowing dangerously in his hand, as he growled out his brother's name, "Arthur!"

* * *

Arthur peeked over a crevice and grinned when he saw the sunken ship. He knew he could find it without asking for directions. The prince chuckled as the sound of tired pants grew closer to him. "Come on, Feli. You're taking too long."

Feliciano dropped himself onto a rock and wiped his forehead. "I'm s-sorry. It's just that, this place is a bit scary...and you were swimming too fast.

"Oh come off it. You can swim faster than me. Also what you mean scary? We've been to hundreds of sunken ships, what makes this one so different," he asked while dragging his friend with him to get closer to the naval corpse. Arthur rolled his eyes at Feli's resistance.

"This one's deeper than the others. Not to mention its dark here. You know I don't like dark places," grumbled the brunette merman. "It's colder too."

"Well, if you don't like it, you could always just stay out here and watch for sharks." Arthur squeezed himself inside through a broken window.

Feli nodded happily until he realized what his friend had suggested. "Hey, wait!" He tried to squeeze inside as well but his hips where a bit wider than Arthur's so he got stuck. "Arthur! Arthur help me!

The prince turned around and sighed to himself, "Oh, Feli. Maybe you need to lay off that seaweed pasta your brother makes." He chuckled at the look of horror on his friend's face when he managed to pull him inside.

"But it's so delicious. It's as close to human pasta as I'm ever going to get." The two swam around the cabins inside the ship oblivious to the dark shadow that swam over them.

A silver glint caught Arthur's eyes and he rushed forward, "Feli look! Isn't it amazing?"

Feli looked up from a crystal hair brooch he found, "What is that?"

"I don't know but I bet that frog, Francis, will." They placed their findings in Feli's satchel and kept looking. Arthur was about to pick up a pipe when he heard Feli scream. "Bloody hell! What? What is…oh dear." He pulled a trembling Feli into his arms and swam back to the pipe. "Are you ok? They must not be much to look at without the-um, skin and stuff, huh?"

Nodding, Feli pulled his dark aqua colored tail up and leaned back, "Yeah. I hate seeing them when they're just bones." His amber eyes lit up, "Ludwig was very cute."

"I know. You've only told me a million times already. Hmm, look I found another ink splatter." He showed it to Feli who took it eagerly. Ink splatters were his favorite things to find. He loved how the colors would blend together to make landscapes or capture moments between people. The two mermen froze when they heard the ship groan.

"D-did you hear that? You heard that right?"

Arthur cocked his head and brushed a hand through his blond hair. "I think it was just the ship settling."

"But you said…you don't think there really are sharks around here do you? They weren't very happy when your brother told them to stop hunting merchildren." Feli paled when he heard another groan and pulled his satchel close to his body. "Arthur lets go. I think we found enough for today."

"Stop being a wanker. It took us forever to find this ship and I don't want to leave until we've found every last bit. I was just messing with you about the sharks. Robert exiled them to the North Pacific. We should be fine. Now come on, I want to see the captain's cabin. They always have good stuff."

Feli let out a sigh, the air coming out as tiny bubbles and followed his friend. He stopped halfway, the scales on his tail tingling in warning. "Arthur," he called softly. His multicolored-gradient fin flicked anxiously when he saw a dangerous shadow on the wall of the room. "Arthur," he called a bit louder. Bracing himself with all the courage he could muster at the moment, Feli turned around to look out the window. Sure enough, "SHARK! Arthur! Shark!" He swam backwards and bumped into Arthur.

The great white smirked and smashed through the window, only to turn into a merman upon entering. The merman had a pale blue tail with white and silver stripes. His black hair was pulled back into a braid as he circled the two frightened mermen. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? The young prince and his little boyfriend out for a swim? A bit far from home aren't we, Prince Arthur?"

Arthur scowled, "Feli isn't my boyfriend. And even if he was what's it to you, Damien? What are you doing here anyway? I thought Robert had you and your brothers banished for stirring up trouble."

Damien shrugged, "He did but the little ones are hungry so I went out to hunt. Being sealed of our magic did have its repercussions but…" he body convulsed and his mouth became bloody as his teeth grew in size, quantity, and shape. A great white stared down the two mermen hungrily, "We can still do this!" He lunged towards Feli but Arthur pulled him away, shoving a table into Damien's open mouth. The great white had no trouble biting through it however. Spitting out the shards of wood he turned angrily towards his prey as they tried to escape through the small window they entered from.

"I don't care how good it tastes, Feli. When we get out of this you're going on a bloody diet!" Arthur backed up before forcing his tail to propel water as fast and as hard as it could to push him towards Feli's struggling body. With a pop, he managed to push his body through. He followed after him, only returning for the satchel. He watched as Damien made a bee line for him.

Breaking through the wall of the ship, the great white swam faster to catch up to his lunch. When Feli felt the tip of his fin enter Damien's mouth, he turned around and lifted his tail out just as the shark closed his mouth. With wide eyes, Feli turned his head around to look for Arthur but instead became acquainted with the mast of the ship he had just been in.

Arthur looked behind him to see if Damien was still following him but gasped when he saw that the merman was trailing after Feli's dazed body. Dropping the satchel he raced to catch him through the noose of an anchor. With Feli in his arms, he smirked. "Arthur, pull me through! What are you waiting for?!"

"Not yet, Feli. Trust me." Feli groaned in fear, his arms tightening around his friend's neck. They watched as an angry Damien smiled cruelly, his large body moving straight towards now. "Ready, Feli? And NOW!" He pulled the trembling merman through and swam away, after picking up his satchel of course, ignoring Damien's roars of anger and desperate thrashes in attempt to dislodge his head from the anchor.

* * *

Francis lounged on a rock while singing to himself and staring into a mirror with a sense of longing. He weaved a sea star into his golden locks and fixed the beaded cuff around his bicep. "Look at you sexy devil you," he said huskily. "Honhonhon, but I am, mon cher." The vain merman chuckled and ran a hand down his silver tail. He marveled at the baby blue scales that ran down the sides and onto the sides of his fin where it fanned out into a silver gradient. He reached around to lazily scratch at the black rose shaped mark on his lower back.

"Oi, Francis," called out Arthur, waving to get his attention.

The blond merman jumped and in his surprise he dropped the mirror he had been looking into, "Oh non! My mirror!" He was about to jump in after it but Feli popped up from the water and handed it over with a cheerful smile. Francis took it and eyed the brunet lecherously, "Ah, Feli. The only one who is _almost_ as beautiful as moi. How are you this fine day, mon cher?"

Feli, oblivious to the hunger in his friend's eyes, brought out the satchel Arthur had handed to him after their escape. The prince rolled his eyes and emptied the contents onto the rock, "We need you to tell us what we found."

"Yeah," cried Feli excitedly, "We went into this sunken ship Arthur found. It was really scary and-"

Francis looked at the objects with interest, all sense of teasing aside for the moment. "Human stuff, eh? Let's take a look," he slid down on the rock belly down with his tail over his body, the tip fanning out and poking Feli in the eye. Arthur frowned but kept his comments to himself. It was difficult to get his idiotic friend to focus long enough to explain the purpose of the goods they would bring and, if he became focused on his own accord, he wouldn't press his luck by distracting him. He watched as he picked up the fork, "This, mon amis, is special."

"What? What is it?" Feli smiled at his friend as his foul mood turned positive. Arthur clutched at the rock and looked at Francis with childish wonder.

Francis patted the blonde's head. "This is a dinglehopper. You see, human women, or men with gorgeous hair, run this baby through their hair like this," he demonstrated by running it through his own hair. "Then you twist it like so and pull." He winced as he did so, eyes widening when a clump of hair came along with it. At the looks of surprise exchanged between Arthur and Feli, Francis waved their fears away, "Uh-it-it's supposed to do that. Humans do this every once in a while to pull the bad hair out in order for prettier softer hair to take its place. Want to feel?"

Arthur shook his head while Feli reached out to pet Francis's hair. The prince took the fork back and examined it. "A dinglehopper," he murmured before putting back into his satchel. "What about that one?" He pointed to the pipe.

The older blond pulled his head away from Feli's gentle hands and took the pipe. "Now this is something I haven't seen in years. C'est fantastique ! Back in prehistoric times, humans would sit around," he pressed his face closer to Arthur so that the prince could see the clear blue in his eyes, "and stare at one another all day. It got very boring." He moved back and toyed with the pipe, "So the humans invented this, the bulbus snarfblatt in order to play music for entertainment. Allow me to demonstrate." Francis brought the pipe to his mouth and blew hard into it, making his cheeks go purple. Seaweed and muck spewed out of the opening of the pipe from the pressure and the merman sputtered in disgust.

"Music? That doesn't sound like any…music…music! The concert!" Arthur grabbed at his belongings, packing them back into his satchel. "Feli why didn't you remind me? My brother's going to kill me!"

Feli turned away from the chocking Francis and furrowed his brow in confusion, "The concert was today? I could've sworn Lovi told me it was going to be tomorrow."

Arthur sighed and took the snarfblatt from Francis, "It wouldn't surprise me if he lied to you just to spite Roderich. Thank you, Francis. We'll see you around soon. Come on, Feli!" He waved good bye and dragged Feli back home.

"Any time, mon chers," called Francis, "Anytime!" When his stomach growled he patted it fondly, "Don't worry, mon ami. You'll get food soon enough." He sat up focused. White feathers sprouted onto his body as he shrunk in size. Testing out his wings, Francis released a pleased squawk and flew away.

As the prince and his friend dashed back home, they were unaware of two mermaids watching them from afar. They pressed their cheeks together and removed their eye patches to reveal a glowing violet eye each. In a cave a few miles from them, a merman with a black tail sat in a crevice, eating live shrimp. With closed eyes he watched as Arthur fretted as he and an unknown brunet, his friend perhaps, made their way home, "Da, hurry home little, Arthur. Wouldn't want to miss Big Brother Robert's celebration."

The visual went away when Ivan opened his mismatched eyes and ate another shrimp, reveling in how it released a pained squeal as he chewed down slowly. "Celebration," he frowned, "celebrating what exactly? More like flaunting his power and wealth while is idiotic subjects bask in his and his family's glory." He slid out of his crevice, disheveled fin swishing back and forth to slow his decent, "Must be nice to live in such a warm place with an abundant food supply while I and my sisters live in this wretched hell hole, wasting away to practically nothing. Banished and exiled," he growled angrily, "we're practically starving." He heard his sister's whimper inside his head from afar, no doubt worried about him and his sudden spike in frustration. A downside to having traded eyes with them, they could feel each others emotions. No matter. It was a small price to pay to be able to have eyes out there while he stayed in here. Speaking of which, "Natasha. Natalya. Keep a close watch on our little prince."

The two mermaids nodded and followed after the pair of friends. Their brother chuckled darkly, "If memory serves me right, little Arthur has always been Robert's favorite brother. He may just be the key to the King's undoing."

* * *

"Irresponsible! Reckless! Careless!" Arthur flinched with every word his brother threw at him, wishing nothing more that Feli could be next to him for moral support. Then again, he discreetly looked to his side where the brunette was being chewed out by his own brother. "Are you listening to me, Arthur?!"

The prince sighed and nodded, "I am, Robert. I'm sorry, I lost track of time and, well, to be honest I completely forgot about the concert."

At this Roderich, who had been silently fuming beside his king, lost it. "Forgot? Forgot?! This was _your_ musical debut and you forgot? Not only did I write this song especially for you but this concert was meant to be the highlight of my musical career and now I'm the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"

Feli heard this and escaped from his brother's choke hold. He swam up to the ranting mermen, "But it wasn't his fault!" Backing up with widening eyes when Robert narrowed his emerald orbs at the two teens he and his friends practically raised as their own, Feli tried to explain. Lovino swam over to hover next to Robert on his left with his arms crossed. "Uh, um, well you see…there was this shark and he was all ROAR!" The older mermen exchanged exasperated glances, Robert leaning his head on his fist while Roderich massaged the bridge of his nose. Feli, oblivious once again to the mood continued his rant. "And then Artie was like, 'you need to go on a diet, Feli' but I don't really want to cause I really like your seaweed pasta, Lovi. I don't really have to, do I? Oh no! Am I really fat?"

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "No you git, I was just teasing. And the second time it was just something I said in the moment. We _did_ have a deranged shark coming after us."

The curl on the side of Feli's head curled into a heart, "Ve~Really? Yay! I really like seaweed pasta and I wasn't sure if I could keep up with the diet if I had to go on it. Anyway," he turned back to Robert, "Then Francis came by and he was telling us about how this is this and that is that and then he said I was pretty!"

Lovi and Robert snarled at the same time, though perhaps their reasoning where different. Lovi shouted first, "You went to see that pervert? I thought I told you to stay away from that self-absorbed bastard?" He reached out to choke his brother again but he let out a squeal. Flicking his olive green tail forward he saw the source of his pain. A turtle had the tip of his fin firmly in between its lips. "Let go you little bastard! Damn it, I said let go." He swished his tail back and forth quickly but the turtle only clamped his mouth harder. Roderich rolled his eyes and gently coaxed the tail out of the turtle's mouth. He handed over the creature to a fuming Lovi. "I swear if Antonio didn't have a passion for turtles, I would've cooked you in a gumbo by now." He muttered to himself about stupid turtle loving bastards disappearing for ten years and saddling their stupid pet on him while going back to the kitchen.

Arthur was about to take this moment to escape with Feli to their special place but Robert held him in place. "Francis, huh? And where did you two see him? Because last time I checked that fool had a preference for living on the surface when he found out that he could make himself look like a damn bird!"

Arthur groaned to himself, "Nothing happened."

"But it could've," argued Robert getting up from his throne. "Arthur, how many times do I have to tell you _not_ to go to the surface? I acknowledge that I can't force others to obey that law but you, _you_ are prince. _You_ have to obey them." He forced his brother to meet his eyes, "what would you have done if you or Feli were seen by one of those damn humans. One of those barbarians?!"

Arthur narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "Robert, they _aren't_ barbarians."

"They're _dangerous_ , Arthur! Do you think I want to see my baby brother ensnared b-by some fish eater's hook?"

The prince backed away from his brother's hold and furrowed his bushy eyebrows in anger, "I'm hardly a child anymore, Robert. I'm 18 now, an adult by any standards. Human or merfolk."

Robert blinked in surprise before clenching his hands, his fin wriggling with frustration, "Do _not_ take that tone with me, young man. You technically may be an adult but you are still under my care and while you live under my ocean you will live by my rules."

The prince's own tail was twitching with agitation, "But, big brother, if you just listen to-"

"I don't want to hear another word from you, Arthur. And I don't ever want to hear that you and Feliciano have gone to the surface again is that clear? I said, is that clear?!" The two siblings matched each others glare but the older won when his little brother's lip began to quiver. With a frustrated grunt, Arthur reached out for Feli's arm and dragged him away.

He swam past his other brothers who were hiding behind pillars. They gave him a disapproving glare. "Bugger off, I don't want to deal you wankers," muttered Arthur, "Come on, Feli."

Christian shooed his younger brothers back to their room as he swam towards his big brother. Robert sat miserably on his throne with Roderich at his side. "Robert?"

The king looked at his younger brother as the strawberry blond merman curled his tail underneath him. "What is it?"

"Don't you think you were too hard on him? Despite what he says or may think he _is_ only a kid after all."

Robert's face saddened some more, "I was just thinking that myself. Did you see how his lip was quivering?" He released a sigh, "Well, at least he didn't cry this time."

Roderich snorted, "Please, your majesty. Don't be too hard on yourself. Did you even see how Lovino reacted? Now _that_ is being hard on a sibling. At least you didn't choke the prince. Besides teenagers these days are way too wild. I remember back in our day, our parents would keep up on a tight leash and wouldn't budge no matter how badly we wanted a bit more freedom. As I always say, give in an inch and they'll swim all over you. Why if Arthur were my brother I'd show him who was boss; none of this flitting to the surface and other such nonsense. I'd keep that boy, hell both boys on tight control." He crossed his arms over his chest and sniffed, perhaps he'd help Lovi out with Feli. After all, he was his charge as well. And if it hadn't been for that wayward curled merman, Arthur wouldn't have…no. Even he couldn't complete that sentence. Arthur would've eventually found a passion for surface trinkets and…those fish eaters. He was Arthur after all.

Robert and Christian exchanged smiles and glanced at Roderich coyly. Christian crossed his arms on top of his brother's head and leaned forward, tail curled over his body, the fin flipping lazily back and forth. Robert allowed this and poked at his friend, "You know you're absolutely right, Roderich."

"Of course I am," said the black haired man, chest puffing out in pride.

"Arthur needs constant supervision."

" _Constan_ t supervision."

"Someone to always keep tabs on him."

"Always."

"Someone who will make sure he and Feli will stay out of trouble."

"All the time."

Robert grinned, "And you are just the person to do it."

"Of course I-wait what?" Roderich frowned when the royal brothers laughed at how easily Robert persuaded him to be Arthur's baby sitter. No persuaded was too kind of a word; he was tricked. Conned! "B-But your majesty I-"

"Are perfect for the position, you know him best and you practically raised Feli. Who better to be his shadow than their favorite composer, eh Roddy?" Robert poked him in the stomach to emphasize his point, making Roderich's chest deflate in resignation.

Knowing better than to argue against the king, friend or not, he nodded solemnly. "Of course, your majesty."


	3. Part Of Your World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to two male versions of part of your world on youtube while writing those scenes. If you want you could listen while you read when the time comes. I really love how they sound I personally think it adds to the mood.
> 
> For the first part I typed in youtube: part of you world male version and clicked on the first one which should be by jonmaxgoh
> 
> For the reprise I typed in youtube: part of your world male reprise and clicked on the first one which should be by khcodesrikurawks

The two royal siblings watched as their court composer sauntered grumpily away, probably to look for his new charge. Christian began to swim back towards their living quarters, "You coming, Bobby? Murphy wanted to talk to you about something."

The king cocked his head in question, "Any idea what it's about? He doesn't want me to get him a new seahorse does he?"

"Would that be so bad?"

"Damn it, Chris. That'd be his third mount this year. Tell him he's not getting another until he learns how to tie a bloody knot. And he's going to have to show me that he knows how to because I'm getting tired of buying new seahorses cause he keeps forgetting to secure them in the stable."

Christian smirked, "Whatever you say, brother." He was going to go bet ten clams with Kyle that Robert would cave by dinner and buy their brother a new mount. He always did spoil them. "Where are you going?"

Running a hand through his red locks, Robert turned away. "It's been a while since I've done some work around here. I'm going to the Pantheon and cook up a storm before dinner."

"Another? But you just made on this morning." Robert ignored him and continued on his way.

* * *

Roderich grumbled to himself in annoyance. Of all the things he could be doing, why did he have to follow around a couple of headstrong teenagers? And why for the love of jellyfish did he allow himself to be suckered into the role of baby sitter without putting up a fight? He should be writing sympathies! Not searching for these-hey! Roderich frowned when he saw his two charges sneaking out of the kingdom with a suspicious looking parcel in Arthur's hands. "Why those rotten little…just where on earth do they think they're going," he muttered to himself. Quickly as he could, and stealthily as he could, Roderich followed closely behind Arthur and Feli as the pair swam quickly to a well hidden cavern.

Arthur paused and looked around before pushing aside a boulder to reveal the mouth of the cave. He motioned for Feli to enter with the satchel and moved to push back the boulder. Roderich gasped and swam as fast as his fin allowed him but the opening had decreased in size and he there was no way he could squeeze inside. With a sigh he closed his eyes and focused what little was left of his magical ability to shrink his body down. His skin hardened, turning into a royal blue, as appendages sprouted from his sides. Now a blue crab he squeezed inside, struggling to get his claw through, he managed after a strong tug. Running his claw over his antennas to smooth out his appearance he lifted one over his head delicately to camouflage himself as a normal crab. Right...because everyone knows crabs walk like they're aristocrats.

He dropped the act when he bumped into an hourglass. "Stupid…things in my wa-" his words died when he opened his eyes to see what he had run into. His body shifted back into that of a merman in his shock. "My word," he whispered to himself as he took in the cavern and all its treasures with wide eyes. Well, to him it was junk but still.

Feli sat the satchel next to the rock Arthur had thrown himself over and quietly approached his friend, "Arthur, are you ok? I'm sorry about blabbering about seeing Francis. I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

The young prince sighed and shook his head, "No, don't worry about it. He would've yelled at me about that sooner or later. Guess it was for the best to just get it out of the way." He toyed with the pipe, "I don't get it, Feli. He says that humans are dangerous, that they'll kill us on sight but you're human and his father didn't do that. I know that a few may have harmed sea creatures but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to accuse _every_ human. That's like saying all merfolk with magic are dangerous just because of some of them did bad things with their powers. And if he really did believe things worked like that, then why didn't he get rid of your brother, Roderich, and me?"

Moon light entered the cavern from a small opening above them making the silver reflect off of Arthur's ruby scales. Feli sat down on the cool ground, curling his tail around him and drew shapes in the sand. "I don't know, Arthur. But…you know, sometimes I think I never should've told you about the surface. Maybe then you wouldn't always be getting into trouble."

"Don't say that, Feli. Knowing me, I would've probably found out about it myself. It just wouldn't be as fun without you. Trident knows my brothers wouldn't have bothered with me and this strange hobby of mine." Arthur and Feli shared a giggle at that while Roderich kept his eyes trained at all the things lining the shelf like walls inside the cave, his jaw dropping as he realized what they said. Hobby? Just how long have they been doing this 'hobby'?

Feli watched his scales changed colors in the light, his middle golden scales reflecting beautifully against the pale moonlight, while Arthur pulled out the fork. "Feli?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think there's something wrong with me," asked Arthur sadly. "I know I can be…rough around the edges but..."

When he stopped talking, Feli floated up a bit so that he was looking at his friend upside down, "I think you're a strange merman but I like that about you," he said cheerfully. " You're different from everyone else and that's ok. There's nothing wrong with having a different way of thinking or wanting different things than what is expected of you." He stretched Arthur's cheeks with his tongue sticking out and made his eyes cross; making the face that he knew always cheered the prince up.

Arthur rolled his eyes but smiled and lightly shoved his friend's tanned hands away from his face. He looked at the 'dinglehopper' in his hands and sighed again, "I wish my brother was more like you. Maybe then he'd understand. I just don't see things the way he does. I don't see how a world that can make such wonderful things," he looked at Feli, "Could be bad?"

Roderich shrunk back into a crab to get closer. As he maneuvered his way through all the, junk as he saw it, he fell into a pile of unsorted goods. Not paying much attention the sound of things falling, the two teen mermen where quite used to that happening, Arthur placed the dinglehopper into a candelabra he found a few years ago, "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the guy, the guy who has everything?" He sat up and looked at the walls lined with things they've found. "Look at this trove, treasures untold. How many wonders can one cavern hold? Looking around here you'd think, 'sure, he's got everything.'"

Swimming upward he played with a few compasses and pocket watches he and Feli hung on hooks, "I've gadgets and gizmos a plenty. I've got whozits and whatzits galore." He swam past Roderich, completely oblivious to his presence. Picking up a shelled box similar to Feli's only larger he showed it to his friend, "You want thingamabobs? I've got twenty." Sighing he put it away, "But who cares? No big deal. I want more." The opening shone light on his favorite item in the entire cave. He swam towards it and leaned against the perch that served as the resting place for the dancing pair figurine Feli had given them as children. He made the couple dance with a longing gaze, "I wanna be where the people are. I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing. Walking around on those-what do you call 'em?" Feli smiled and pointed to his wiggling fin making Arthur chuckle with a nod, "Oh, feet."

The blond prince laid on his back and lazily moved his tail, "Flipping your fins you don't get too far; legs are required for jumping, dancing." Jumping up, he looped his arm through Feli's and the pair pretended that they were walking, "Strolling along down a-what's that word again?"

Feli shrugged and offered, "Street?"

Roderich 'humphed' in annoyance but Arthur nodded once again in agreement. Lacing his fingers through Feli's, he twirled them upward, towards the small opening in their cavern, "Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun. Wandering free, wish I could be part of that world."

The elder merman was beginning to feel ill. Did the prince really want to do something so-so…insane! As if to answer his unspoken question, Arthur's sweet voice voiced his deepest desire as he descended back to the ground on his back. "What would I give if I could live out of these waters?" Roderich's jaw dropped. Feeling woozy, he leaned back against a table, jumping when it made a surprisingly pleasing sound. Curious he pressed down on the ivory and black keys, eliciting cheerful notes.

"What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand," sang Arthur, stretching out on the cool dark sand. He watched Feli do the same next to him, his amber eyes dozing off due to his friend's melodic voice. But Arthur wasn't done. Nudging his friend awake again, he laid on his side with his head on his fist, "Bet'cha on land, they'd understand. That they don't reprimand their brothers. Bright young gentlemen who are sick of swimming." He met Feli's eyes with determination before taking his friend's hand in his again to lift them back up, "We're ready to stand!"

Arthur's determination and excitement was contagious to Feli and the brunet was wide awake once again. He pulled out a book from their makeshift library, a cook book that showed all kinds of human pasta. He pointed to the one he remembered Ludwig's father offering him and his grandfather, "And we're ready to know what the people know. Ask 'em our questions and get some answers."

The prince nodded in approval and swam to an Ink Splatter that was his and Feli's favorite. It depicted a woman sitting at a desk with a skull in her lap. Her face looked guilty but it was hard to tell due to her head being turned away. But the part that really intrigued them was the candle. Arthur ran his fingers down the painted glow, "Like what's a fire and why does it, what's the word," closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against the painting in thought, "Burn!" He grinned, happy that he remembered, "When's it our turn?" Arthur once again swam towards the opening above their cavern, "Wouldn't I love," he stretched his arm above him, fingers extended towards the moonlight; he was desperately pretending that the surface was just outside and he could touch it, "love to explore that shore up above?" But, at last, it wasn't. Feli watched sadly as his friend came back down, his tail and fin moving on their own accord to slow down his descent. "Out of the sea." Was Arthur crying? "Wish I could be," Arthur looked up longingly through his fringe, "part of that world."

Feli sat next to him and pulled him into a hug, "Don't worry, Artie. One day. One day, we'll get you get up there."

Roderich, preoccupied with his new discovery, managed to overhear what the little brunet said and his claw got caught on a latch, making the piano collapse on itself. He let out a startled yelp and fell back onto the unsorted pile with a loud crash. The two mermen pulled away from each other in surprise and looked as an angry merman, he having changed back from his borderline hysteria at his charges nonsense, staring at them. Despite the seriousness of being discovered, Feli and Arthur started to laugh at Roderich. His violet eyes seeming larger due to a pair of spectacles he had somehow managed to stumble upon. The elder merman turned red with agitation but tried to calm down by taking a few deep breaths.

Arthur was the first to calm his chuckles, "I-I'm sorry Roderich. It's just you look positively ridiculous with those things on. Don't you know? They're supposed to go on-"

"I don't care where they're supposed to go, why do you have them to begin with," cried Roderich as he removed the spectacles, frowning when he realized that his vision had appeared sharper with them on. "What _is_ all this junk anyway?"

"Um," the prince lightly tugged at his own arm, "it's…uh, it's my collection. Well, ours," he motioned to Feli and himself. "But Feli has his really special stuff in that corner over there so that it doesn't mix with mine. He's picky about what he collects. Not me though, I like it all." Arthur stopped with a blush, realizing that he was saying too much. And to Roderich of all merfolk.

Roderich, however, nodded. Putting the glasses back on he took a pace back, "I see, you collection." He grunted when he realized that he still twine wrapped around his fin, he moved to pull it off along with the diamond tiara and pearls on his head sputtering, "If your brother knew about this place-"

"You aren't going to tell him are you, big brother," cried Feli, rushing to tug at Roderich's arm. Roderich grunted when Arthur tugged at his other arm.

"Oh, please don't tell Robert, Roderich," pleaded the prince, his green eyes begging. "He'll never understand. This place is very special to Feli and me and if you tell him, I don't know what he'll do."

The elder merman sighed. They were tugging at his heart strings by calling him big brother, a guilty pleasure he swore never to tell anyone, though he suspected Lovi and Robert knew. Roderich's face softened and he patted both teens on their head. "Ok, fine. I won't tell." He smiled at Arthur and pulled them both towards the mouth of the cave, "I understand that you're under a lot of pressure, Arthur. Maybe it was too soon to introduce your voice to Atlantica. Let's get you both home and I'll tell Lovi to make you something warm and sweet to drink, ok?"

Feli noticed a shadow come over them as they exited the cave. Looking up, his jaw dropped and he nudged at his friend. Arthur followed Feli's gaze upward and his eyes widened. Pulling away from Roderich, he grabbed his friend's hand and together they dashed towards the surface.

Roderich felt them pull away, "Hey, come back here! Where are you going? Arthur? Feli!"

Popping out of the water, Arthur brushed his fringe back and gasped. His eyes glittered with excitement when he saw blue, red, white, pink sparkles light up the sky, "Look, Feli! Fire flowers!"

"Ve~ I never thought we'd actually get to see them in person," marveled Feli. He zoomed in on the ship where lively music and laughter could be heard. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Artie?"

Roderich chose that time to surface as well, "What do you two think you're doing? You can't just go with out-" He jumped as another firework exploded above them, "Jumping jelly fish," he cried. The two teens took advantage of the distraction and raced towards the ship. "Arthur! Feli! Don't go over there! Please, come back!"

The ship was in top condition; Not a single barnacle on its belly nor any sign of algae. Arthur marveled at how clean this ship was in comparison to all the ones he and Feli had explored. Though, that was to be expected. This one hadn't spent time under the sea like its brethren. Enthralled by the sound of laughter and music, the blond climbed along the side, finding a spot where he could comfortably sit. He peeked through an opening and smiled to himself. Men were dancing with each other to the music of an accordion. All of them were dressed in blue and white striped shirts with red bandana's tied securely around their necks, some even wore hats. A furry creature was skipping around the deck meowing loudly and cheerfully as if it were singing along with the tune.

Feli panted and sat weakly across from his prince, taking a moment to catch his breath before he too peered through the opening. His eyes immediately fell on a lone blonde sitting by himself on a barrel with a brooding expression on his gorgeous face. Feli felt his breath hitch in his throat, 'I've seen him before.' Looking closely he noticed a very important detail hanging around his neck that made his heart beat faster and a blush form on his cheeks. Ludwig?

Arthur, oblivious to his friend's love struck behavior, felt his eyes zoom in on a very handsome blond playing a snarfblatt. He was dancing around another blond that looked remarkably a lot like him, brother perhaps, save his hair had a peculiar curl and he was dancing with a very pale, red eyed man. The blond with the snarfblatt playfully bucked his hips to the side, pushing his brother a lot closer to his dance partner. Matthew blushed while Gilbert simply grinned and brought his arm tighter around his waist, twirling him around.

Alfred laughed happily before bring his flute to his lips to play some more and allowed Max to jump onto his head so that the two could dance. This made Arthur's smile broaden, that is until the creature caught sight of them and ran right towards the two mermen. The cat sniffed at Arthur's face, his blue feline eyes furrowing in confusion. No doubt it thought something along the lines of, 'It smells like food but looks like my master.'

"Max," called Alfred. "Come away from there, you silly kitty. I know you're a hero like me but let's not test our luck." Max gave Arthur's cheek a lick, making the prince giggle at the scratchy texture, and ran back to his master. Arthur watched as the blue eyed blond reached down to pet his cat with an affectionate smile, his own heart beginning to beat rapidly at the sight. He knew all humans couldn't be so bad. And this one…well this one seemed so perfect.

Arthur and Feli sighed in pleasure as the leaned their heads on their arms while watching the two men they were pining after. Neither noticed a white bird flying alongside the ship until it started to shout at them. "Bounjour mes amors," cried Francis, his blue beady eyes glittering with mischief. "What are beautiful creatures such as your selves doing on the side of this boat? Enjoying the show?!"

The blond prince hissed in annoyance, swinging his arm to get the bird to shut up, "Quiet, Frog! You'll get us spotted."

Francis landed in between their tails and nodded in understanding. "Oh, I see. I got ya, we're being intrepidaceous." He extended his wings out happily and shouted, "We're out to discover!"

Before Arthur could swat at the bird, Feli took him onto his own lap and gently patted his head, "Please don't be so loud, Francis. Just sit here and watch with us." Francis settled down and cooed as the brunette continued to pet him.

Arthur nodded and turned back to look at Alfred, a smile forming once again on his face, "I've never been this close to a human before. Well, a live one with skin and hair and…oh," he sighed, resting his head on his arm and looking at the blond longingly again, "He's very handsome, isn't he?"

Feli tore his gaze from Ludwig too look at who Arthur was looking at. He wrinkled his nose, "I don't know, Arthur. Isn't he a bit hairy and…short? He's not even walking right, he's on all fours and licking…I don't even want to know what he's licking."

Arthur giggled when he realized that he was talking about the cat and shook his head, "Not that one you git." Gently taking Feli's chin into his hand he maneuvered it around so that he could see Alfred, "The one playing the snarfblatt." Feli nodded in approval. The three mermen sat back and continued to watch the festivities, ignoring the desperate pleas from Roderich below them.

Matthew gently stepped away from Gilbert, a happy glow on his face from all the dancing, "I think I-I need a break, Gil. I'm getting thirsty."

The albino nodded to his partner and led him to a barrel so that he could sit down. "I'll be right back, Birdie." Gilbert skipped around the dancing crew and towards the keg of wine that was next to his still brooding brother. "Oh, come on, West. You ain't still sore about the teasing from this morning are ya?"

"You said that I was crazy," muttered Ludwig while crossing his arms. He absolutely refused to acknowledge that he was pouting. It wasn't a manly thing to do after all. The blond felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and he rose his baby blue eyes to meet his brother's red.

"Listen, _I_ may think that merfolk is nothing a bunch of hoo-ha but Vati believed in it. Hell, he still goes on about how you and him were friends with a couple of merfolk. I don't buy it but hey whatever floats your boat."

"Are you trying to make me feel better, bruder? Because even I can tell you that you're going about it the wrong way."

Taking out a few wine glasses from the case, Gilbert shrugged as he filled them with wine, "What I'm _trying_ to say is, don't live in the past or a fantasy. You can't keep pining over a creature who, if he did exist, I'm not saying he did, but _if_ he did or does, would not be able to be a part of your life. The dude's a merman. Key syllable 'mer' as in the sea or whatever. He has to stay in the water right? How would you two even be together?"

Ludwig looked away and felt even worse than on the day his father told him that they were going to leave their seaside summer home. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to his wayward curled merboy friend. It was almost as bad as when they would return every summer and he and his father would sit by the dock waiting for Feli and his grandfather to come…but they never did. And now, Gilbert had to go and ruin his plans of one day finding the merman and confessing his love for him. He glared at the beer in his hand. Stupid dream crushing brothers...

"Now don't go blaming your love life, or lack of, on me, West," said Gilbert, interrupting his brother's pity party. "I didn't tell you to fall in love with an imaginary friend."

"Shut up, East," muttered Ludwig as he stood up and drowned the last of his beer. "Let's go get those presents, Vati made us sneak aboard."

"Ok, let me just get this wine to my Birdie."

"Talk about pining over someone impossible."

"Hey! It's not impossible. I know, Matthew will see my awesomeness one day." Gilbert stuck his tongue out at his brother and Ludwig fought the urge to do the same. Oh hell, why not? He returned the gesture before heading down to retrieve the gifts his father arranged for the two princes.

When Ludwig and Gilbert returned, they were dragging two large objects covered in a cloth. "Ok, guys, shut up for a sec, will ya," shouted the albino. "Kesesese~ Settle down, guys. Ok, now I have no idea what these things are but they're from our old man so I have no guarantee that they'll be awesome."

Matthew giggled at that while his brother snorted, "That old timer, he shouldn't have." Despite his words, Alfred couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement at getting a present. He rushed over to Ludwig, "The biggest is mine, right? Of course it is. I'm the hero and first born!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes at his friend but nodded, "Ja, the biggest is yours."

"Oh boy!" Arthur chuckled and blushed when he saw Alfred's breathtaking smile. Matthew shyly went up to Gilbert's box and took a corner of the sheet. "Ok, Mattie, on three. Ready? One, two, three!" The twins pulled at their respected sheets to reveal their gifts as their crew shouted out 'happy birthday'.

"MAPLE LEAF," cried Matthew in excitement, "Is this really for me? Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He jumped onto Gilbert and hugged him tightly when he saw what his gift was. The albino, shocked at first, turned red but returned the hug tightly. He sent a happy wink to his brother and raised his eyebrows to say ' _See, I told you he'd see my awesomeness_ '.

Ludwig rolled his eyes again but smiled anyway, glad that his brother and prince was happy. Well, one of his princes. Alfred had a look of confusion on his face, "Um, gee, Luddy. I don't know what to say. Thanks I guess, it's…it's really something." He took a step back to see that his gift was a statue in himself, and though he was posing very heroically, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. His brother had gotten a pet bear for crying out loud. Why did he have to get something so…lame? Even Max looked unimpressed by the gift, choosing it to sharpen his claws on it instead of respecting it as a piece of art.

Arthur, however, couldn't help but gape at such a beautiful creation. Based on the look Alfred was giving it though, he didn't seem to share in his appreciation. And if that was the case, hell, he'd be more than happy to take it off his hands. Feli was staring at the polar bear now cradled like a baby in Matthew's hands. It was so cute! Not as cute as his Luddy of course. What he wouldn't give to just go up there and hug him senseless.

"You know this statue was a gift from my Vati. I personally wanted to get you a few new cannons for this ship but he insisted-." He paused when Alfred started to laugh at him.

"Sorry, dude, it's just 'vati' sounds like 'daddy'," whispered the prince.

Ludwig felt his cheeks redden. There was no way in hell he was going to confirm that 'vati' did mean daddy…perhaps he should use 'vater' from now on. Clearing his throat he continued where he left off, "He insisted that we bring it aboard should and present it to you as a wedding gift. He _had_ hoped we did."

Arthur gasped at the word wedding and leaned closer to hear more about it. He'd just seen this Alfred fellow, no way could he get married without him at least getting the chance to court him himself. It wasn't fair! Feli reached over and held his hand in comfort.

The prince snorted however, "Please. If you want me to get married, you guys, and your father, need to stop forcing girls on me. You know I don't swing on that vine."

Matthew looked up from his new pet and frowned at his brother, "Well, it's not as if it's all that easy to find you a suitable man, brother. All the men that we know of that could serve as a possible suitor are either taken or married."

' _Not me!_ ' Thought Arthur.

Alfred sighed and sat on the ledge of the ship, right over where Arthur and Feli were sitting, "I'm in no rush. I'm fine as I am right now and it's not like you can force me to marry someone I don't love."

"Why not Ludwig," offered Gilbert.

"What," cried both blonds in horror as Feli and Arthur cried ' _No!_ '

"Kesese~ I was only teasing…sorta."

Ignoring his crush, Matthew continued addressing his brother, "Oh, Alfie, you know it's not that we want to force you into marriage. We just want you to settle down and be happy. The entire kingdom wants to see you happy."

Alfred smiled, "Thanks, Mattie, but don't worry so much about me. I'll find him. I'm sure he's out there somewhere."

"Perhaps you haven't been looking hard enough," said Ludwig. "I know _I_ have," he whispered to himself.

"Come on Luddy, we've know each other since we were in diapers. You know that I'll find my other half."

"How can you be so sure the person you find is the one?"

"Believe me, man. When you find someone who's the one you'll know. When you see them, it hits you like lightning. Bam!" Alfred brought his fist to his palm and a sound of thunder pierced the air making Max hiss and the bear cub moan in fright. Lightening followed after, lighting the sky ominously.

"Verdammt, brother, I told you King Triton was real! He's probably pissed off you praised Fritz for his good humor and is stirring up this storm as punishment," cried Ludwig as he moved to cry out orders. "You, men, secure the riggin!" Alfred jumped to help out while Matthew ran towards the wheel, slipping once against the wet stairs, in attempt to steady the ship.

Arthur's face fell, "Perhaps big brother was angrier than I thought," he told Feli. The two mermen grasped at the ledge as the strong winds pushed the boat back and forth. Rain began to pour down, thoroughly soaking all who stood in its path. Waves became rowdy making Roderich struggle to stay close to his charges.

The wind picked up Francis but his wings and lifting him out of Feli's lap. "Arthur! Feli," he cried out as the wind carried him away. Without giving the idea a second though, changed back into a merman, falling back into the water where he dove further down to where it was safe. "Please come down here, mon amis," he thought out loud. "It's not worth staying up there."

"Boys," shouted Roderich, "Boy's come down from the-"his voice was drowned out by a wave crashing into him.

Feli and Arthur exchanged worried glances. Robert was _really_ pissed off. They looked through the opening and saw the crew scrambling about in panic to keep the ship steady. Max and the polar bear stood frozen near the statue in fear.

"They're going to be ok, right Feli," asked Arthur, feeling himself slip from his perch.

"I-I don't know, Artie," answered the brunette. Another wave rose over them, this time reaching the edge of the ship, dragging down the two mermen back to the sea but they rushed back up to the surface despite Roderich's desperate pleas for them to go back home.

Matthew was knocked over but he quickly stood back up and gripped the wheel. Alfred rushing to help his brother keep it still. Ludwig and Gilbert exchanged panicked glances when they saw a lightning bolt hit the mast and its sails, igniting it in flames. The mermen gasped in horror. Fire. Wasn't fire supposed to light things and keep people warm?! This fire was going to hurt the people the care about! If that wasn't bad enough; their eyes widened when they saw that the ship was headed straight into rocks.

Gilbert tossed Matthew over his shoulder and tucked the polar bear cub under his arm before taking a running leap over this ship as it collided against the boulders, tossing everyone else overboard. Crew members pulled them into lifeboats as they all watched their ship burn. Alfred looked around the life boats and noticed someone was missing. Fearful meows drew his attention back to the ship. His eyes tearing up he cried out, "Max! Don't worry, boy, Daddy's coming for ya!" Without thinking twice, the Alfred jumped back into the water and swam towards the ship. "Daddy's coming, kitty. Daddy's coming," he shouted as he climbed back up.

Ludwig moved to jump after his charge but a strong hand kept him in place, "Let go of me, Gilbert! I need to help him!"

"No, West, you'll get yourself killed," argued Gilbert.

"He's my friend and my responsibility. I need to make sure he's safe; now, let go of me!" Shoving his hand aside, Ludwig went after Alfred. Matthew whimpered and held tightly to Gilbert as he and they everyone else watched the two blondes' board the flaming ship once again.

"Max," called Alfred upon locating his cat. "Come on boy, jump!" The feline did as it was told, jumping to his master's arms.

Alfred felt himself be pushed back. Looking back he saw Ludwig holding him firmly, "You should be more careful, idiot. Now come on before the ship blows," he said nodding fiery broken mast that had nearly landed on his charge. Near it was a barrel of gun powder and left over fireworks. "Let's move." Alfred nodded, picking holding his cat tightly in his arms, both he and Ludwig made a run for it.

Arthur and Feli held on to each other, their tails working overtime to keep above the surface and steady in the chaos that was the sea's surface. They watched as their loves ran in order to jump over board but as soon as they did the ship exploded. "BLOODY HELL," screamed Arthur. Max paddled towards the boat and pulled himself out of the water, moving immediately to cuddle against the bear cub's fur for warmth.

"No, Alfred," cried Matthew, hugging his bear tightly in his grasp. The crew members paddled towards shore, having nowhere else to go since the explosion pushed them in that direction and the waves were far too fierce to battle in mere life boats. "No, turn back! I order you to turn back!"

Gilbert held onto Matthew, "I'll look for them personally. But first we need to get you to safety, my prince."

' _To hell with waiting_ ,' thought Arthur, disentangling himself from Feli. "I'm going to look for him; you go see to that other guy!" Feli nodded and began to search for Ludwig.

Arthur looked through the debris desperate for signs of the beautiful human, known as Alfred. He couldn't let him die. A groan to his right alerted him to his whereabouts. He watched in horror as the human slipped from his life line, a piece of wood, and into the water. Diving after him, Arthur wrapped his arms around Alfred's broad chest and dragged him back to the surface. He leaned on his back in order to let Alfred's head rest on his chest to keep his head out of the water. It was a struggle but he eventually made it to the shore. Alfred shivered in his unconscious state. His boots were long gone, his pants torn and singed away so that they were more like shorts than anything. Arthur curled next to his body in order to keep him warm, "Please be ok," he whispered. "Please don't die." He closed his eyes over Alfred's heart, determined to stay with him through the night, or until one of his people found him.

Feli had struggled the most after he found Ludwig clinging unconsciously to a barrel of ale, whatever _that_ was. He wasn't as built as Robert or Christian, but he could hold his own. Taking a firm hold of Ludwig, he swam towards the shore. The rain had calmed down to a very light drizzle by the time they reached the shore but Feli felt the need to keep his love as warm as possible. Thinking back from when he first saved Ludwig in their youth, the merman recalled his grandfather telling him that he had to give him the kiss of life. In other words, breath into them to stimulate their own breathing mechanism to work. Human biology wasn't like their own after all, their lungs couldn't handle water like his.

He took a few breaths to calm his nerves before settling over him and lowering his lips over Ludwig's. Feli breathed in a few times and pressed his hands against Ludwig's chest, "Please wake up, Luddy." He lowered his lips again and repeated the motion with his hands, "Come on, Ludwig!" Shutting his eyes tightly, he brought his lips over the blonde's only this time he felt a hand press his head closer. He opened his amber eyes to see that Ludwig was staring right back at him. Squeaking, Feli tried to pull away but found that he didn't really want to. Instead he leaned into the long awaited kiss.

"Did I die," croaked Ludwig after allowing Feli to pull away.

"I don't think so."

Feli watched as Ludwig closed his eyes again and smiled, "Gut. Let's take a nap, Feli." Well, it wasn't like the poor merman had a choice in the matter seeing as Ludwig brought his arms around his waist and held him tightly against his chest. And it certainly wasn't like Feli even _wanted_ to leave his long lost loves' embrace to begin with. He should probably go make sure Arthur and that other guy were ok but, and he felt slightly guilty for feeling this way, he couldn't bring himself to care. Arthur could hold his own and would be just fine without him. So, Feli snuggled against his blonde's strong chest, positioning his head over his heart. The beat was faint but it was still there. He'd make sure it stayed that way.

* * *

Morning came far too quickly for the two mermen. On Feli's end, he was woken up by the heat of the morning sun. Heat? Sun? Oh! Feli scrambled out of the warm embrace he had been kept in and looked down at a still sleeping Ludwig. Had his ear not been pressed against it, he would be sure that the blonde's heart had stopped beating. He looked far too peaceful for someone who had just been in an explosion, nearly drowned and slept on a beach in a drizzle.

Ludwig cracked his eyes open and saw a very familiar face with an even more familiar curl. It couldn't be, could it? Then that meant last night…cuddled…kiss…kiss! The blonde's chapped lips broke into a smile, "Are you really here with me, Feli?" Before the merman could answer he felt two strong arms wrap themselves around his torso and drag him back towards the ocean. "Feli? Feli! Don't leave me," cried Ludwig. He scrambled to get up in order to reach out and grab his merman's wrist but all he could reach was the blue seashell bracelet that he had pulled off as his lost love was dragged into the water. Sliding it onto his own wrist, he prepared to dive in after him but his brother reached out to grab him.

"Oi, West! You scared me to death, you crazy bastard," cried Gilbert as he hugged his brother tightly. "God, never do that again. If I didn't already have naturally white hair, I swear you would give me a whole headful."

"Did you see him, bruder?!"

"See who?"

"Feli! He was here, he saved me again. We kissed and he stayed the night with me and we cuddled and I woke up and he was there. He still remembers me, Gilbert!" Ludwig was beginning to hyperventilate as he looked at his brother with wide eyes.

Gilbert blinked slowly. Not wanting to excite his brother but not wanting to discourage him either, he decided perhaps it was best to humor him, "Uh, sure thing, Pal, whatever you say. Hey, we still need to go find Prince Alfred. Come on, big guy." Ludwig's eyes cleared and became serious. Nodding, they both went to look for their prince.

* * *

"Are you ok, mon ami," questioned Francis when he flew down to the shore. He spotted the pair from the sky after he had resurfaced in order to search for food.

Arthur heaved a tired sigh; he hardly slept a wink all night having been worried sick about the human that slept under him. His tail flicked anxiously as he watched Alfred's sleeping face. His boyish features brought a blush to Arthur's cheeks, "I'm fine but I'm not sure if he is."

Francis brought Alfred's foot to his ear, "I can't find a heartbeat."

"You git, even I know that's not where the heart-look! He's breathing." Arthur breathed out in relief and smiled warmly, he's so beautiful isn't he?" He ran his hands through Alfred's thick hair, marveling at how soft it was. Francis smirked and decided that perhaps it was best to give his friend some privacy. The merman was oblivious to his friend's departure and kept staring down at Alfred and sang softly, "What would I give to live where you are? What would I pay to stay here beside you?" He ran his knuckles delicately across his brow bone, "What would I do to see you smiling at me?" His knuckles continued their journey down the curve of his cheek bones, brushing away some of the fringe that fell delicately over his face.

Roderich fixed the glasses on his face while keeping a firm grip on Feli's arm. The teen wasn't putting much of a fight, apparently still in a lovesick daze. When he was sure that he wasn't going to swim away, the older merman released him and he slumped tiredly against a rock. A familiar voice brought him out of his brief moment of piece and threw him into another fit of terror when he saw what his other charge was doing. What was wrong with teenagers these days?! His jaw dropped when he saw Arthur run his finger pads over Alfred's lips. Francis chuckled softly and lifted Roderich's jaw in order to close his mouth.

Arthur paid no mind to the mermen behind him. His sole attention was for the human in under him, "Where would we walk? Where would we run if we could stay all day in the sun? Just you and me and I could be," the merprince watched as the human prince opened his blue eyes and smiled at him, "part of your world."

Alfred could barely see without his glasses but he could tell that the person before him was a man. A handsome one at that, "Who are you," he asked, wincing at the scratchiness of his voice. He heard faint voices calling out to him but he didn't respond. Meows and barking came towards them scaring off the man before him. He rushed to stand up but stumbled as the blood rushed to from his head making him get an instant headache.

"Alfie!" He fell over again when Matthew launched himself at him with wide arms. "Alfred you scared me to death! When I saw the explosion-and then you and Ludwig fell into the water- and I ordered them to turn back but they wouldn't. But Gilbert said he'd go looking for you and he did. But I wanted to help and now you're here and your fine and…oh god don't ever scare me like that again!" Whatever Matthew said was lost to the elder twin. It was all jumbled and to be frank he could bet money that even his brother wouldn't be able to tell you what he said. But under all that mess he could tell that his twin had been worried to the point he felt the need to bring out one of Ludwig's dogs to help search.

"Mattie? Did you see a guy just now?"

"A guy?" Matthew furrowed his brow in confusion, "No, Alfred. It's just you. Why do you ask?"

"A boy, no a man rescued me," he pushed away and tried to stand on his own. "He was singing and, oh, Matt, he had the most beautiful voice. He was pretty cute too."

Gilbert ran up in time to catch Alfred as the prince fainted, leaving his brother to lean against a rock, "What was he saying, Birdie?"

Matthew stared at his brother, "Nothing. I think perhaps he swallowed too much sea water."

The albino nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I think West did too. Come on; we'll get you three home to Elizabeta. She'll take care you guys. Who would've thought we were so close to home, eh Birdie?"

"I thought you had an excellent sense of direction?"

"Of course I do! But really, I'm no sailor. I'm a chef! Come along, Max. Blackie."

Four mermen watched as the four humans left the beach. Roderich was beyond panicking, "Ok. Ok," running a hand through his black hair he took in a deep breath, "Ok, this is what we're going to do. We're going to forget this whole thing ever happened, ok? The sea king will never know. You won't tell him, _I_ won't tell him." Francis raised an amused eyebrow when Roderich pointed at him. As if he ever went near Atlantica anymore. Roderich continued to ramble about his plan, once again brushing dangerously close to the border of hysteria _, "they_ won't tell him and _I_ will stay in one piece."

Feli leaned under the rock they were hiding while Arthur rested above it; both were staring after the retreating back of their human crushes and completely ignoring Roderich. Arthur felt a grin tug at his lips, "I don't know when, I don't know how, but I know something's starting right now. Watch and you'll see," he reached down and held his best friend's hand tightly in his, "someday _we'll_ be, part of your world!"

Roderich shooed Francis away and ushered his charges back home oblivious to the two mermaids watching them carefully with a glowing violet eye each. Ivan cackled in cruel childish glee in his cave, "Oh, this is perfect! Little Arthur is in love. And he's not just in love but he's in love with a _human_. A human prince to top it off. Heh, Big Bother Robert will love that." He stretched out, his black tail flicking happily, "This is going to be too easy, right sisters?" Natasha and Natalya nodded knowing that he'd know that they agreed with him despite them being miles apart. Ivan smiled pleasantly, "Da, I think so too. And King Robert's love sick brother _would_ make a pretty addition to our little garden." The black tailed merman rubbed his chin in thought, "Da. That's what I'm going to do. Arthur will be part of the garden. You'd like that wouldn't you my darlings?" Natasha and Natalya blushed and nodded once again, though Ivan wasn't talking to them. He was eying his garden hungrily, relishing as the once merfolk, now turned into coral polyps, trembled in fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> know Prussia sounded a bit hard on Germany during their little chat but I promise he isn't mean. He just doesn't want his brother to miss out because of his obsession with trying to find Italy. Also it's in my opinion that Merfolk are very affectionate creatures, or at least they're very touchy feely. In the movie Ariel does hug Flounder to her and does hold his fin during the song and such which is why I'm having England and Italy interact the way they do.


	4. Under The Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur and Feliciano can't stop thinking about the men they saved from drowning and their love for them is starting to show. Unfortunately for them, their brothers start to notice...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Belgium/Emma: 25
> 
> Netherlands/Lars: 26
> 
> Hungry/Elizabeta: 28
> 
> Ukraine/Natasha: 31
> 
> Russia/Ivan: 29
> 
> Belarus/ Natalya: 25

The sound of waves gently crashing against the shoreline awoke Alfred from his sleep. Sunlight peeked through the curtains to tickle him through his eyes lids until he had no choice but to open them. Stifling a yawn, he tried to pull his covers over his head but insistent hands kept him from going back to sleep. He let out a groan of childish disapproval.

"Now, Prince Alfred, there will be none of that," snapped Elizabeta. "It's nearly mid-day and I think I've been more than generous by allowing you to sleep in." The housekeeper threw back his comforter, not abashed in the slightest about her prince's apparel, or lack of. "Come on now, up, up you go!"

"But, Lizzy," cried Alfred pitifully, "I was having a very nice dream just now. Please let me go back and at least finish it." He looked up at her with wide blue eyes, "Please?"

Elizabeta rolled her eyes. "Oh, Alfred. Of course I won't let you go back to sleep." As housekeeper of the castle, Elizabeta had grown quite used to both Alfred's and Matthew's attempt to get their way in regards to both sweets and extra sleep. However, her family, much like the Beilschmidt family, had been close friends to the royal family for many years now so she got away with most things the average servant would at another household. With that in mind, she knew she could, for example, pick up the still naked prince and toss him into a bath she had already prepared and scrub the muck from his body until his skin was pink. Dressing him in a white cotton shirt with a v-neck and forcing a pair of pants onto him, he insisted that he could put on his own boots and lace them thank you very much, Alfred was ready to greet the day properly.

"Thanks, Liz. Hey! Any word on that cute boy with the beautiful voice yet?" Alfred was fixing his sleeves but kept his gaze on Elizabeta through his mirror. "I think he's the one. I mean the dude saved me _and_ he made my heart race. No one's ever done that before, know what I mean?"

"You were serious about that, Alfie?" Matthew entered his brother's room with his bear, he named him Kumajirou, in his arms. "I thought you were just hallucinating or something. As a matter of a fact I'm positive you were." The younger twin sat on a chair near the balcony with a thoughtful frown, "Then again, Ludwig was also going on about a merman saving him last night."

"Do you really think my mystery guy's a merdude?" Matthew would've laughed at his brother's question had he not said it so seriously. Too seriously. Really? Not him too.

"Alfred…"

"No. Think about it. What if the reason we can't find him is cause he's from the sea. Maybe we're looking for him in the wrong places." Alfred started to pace around his room with his hand under his chin in thought, "Yeah. Hey, yeah! We can get small boats and go back to where the ship wrecked. We'll go there and-"

"Alfred, sweetie," called Elizabeta. The housekeeper was wringing her hands fretfully in her apron. "Honey, you know how much I hate agreeing with Gilbert, but he's right you know. Merfolk are things of legend. They don't exist outside fairy tales."

"How do you know?"

Green eyes blinked at the question. "Well, I personally haven't seen one but-"

"Ludwig has."

"Well, yeah or so he says."

"You calling him a liar?"

"What? No, I just think that-"

"Cause I know Luddy. And I know that that man is not capable of lying. He turns really red and he starts messing with his hair. I know cause once when he tried lying to me my goldfish still being alive when we were kids and I tried giving it a bath-"

"Alfred," exclaimed Matthew, having heard just about enough about sea creatures. "Alfred, no one's saying you or Ludwig are liars. _Maybe_ you did see mermen. Just like maybe people who are close to dying see god. You have to look at things from _our_ point of view. You two were blown into the water near a bunch of rocks. You guys probably even hit your head and swallowed too much water. The both of you were nearly baking in the sun! Please, brother, try to at least see the possibility that perhaps seeing mermen was the result from all the stress your brains and bodies went through."

The older twin pouted and looked down in shame, "I…I guess I can see that. I'm sorry, Lizzy. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Elizabeta pulled him into a hug, "I know, sweetie. You boys have been through a lot. Why don't you go down for brunch then take Max out for a walk through town? I'm sure it'll help clear your head." Both she and Matthew watched as Alfred picked up his flute and left his room. "Do you think he'll be ok?"

"I hope so," said Matthew softly. "But, you have to admit. That went _a lot_ better than it did with Ludwig."

* * *

**~A few Days Later ~**

"Well that was," started Connor, the older of the red headed twins. His green eyes stared at his baby brother as he put away his music while humming cheerfully.

"…A first," ended Murphy, the younger twin. He and Connor watched Arthur, along with their other three brothers. Murphy's emerald tail flicked playfully, "What do you think brought this on, brothers?"

David grinned, "Who knows and who cares. Just as long as he keeps up the good work and actually comes to rehearsals like this from here on out, I won't complain." He lifted his baby blue tail and brought it down happily, the white tip fanning out to make bubbles, "Not to mention little Artie's finally smiling again."

Connor scoffed. "When isn't he smiling? Every now and again he and Feliciano will come back from Poseidon knows where and…oh my!" He started to smirk mischievously, "You don't suppose he and Feli…you know."

Christian and Kyle were pulled from their own conversation by their younger brother's comment. The older blonde made a face, "You're sick, man. Feli's like another brother to us. Why in Trident's name would he be attracted to him? How do you even know it's another merman he's attracted to? How do you know it isn't a mermaid?"

"To _you_ perhaps; and why wouldn't he be? The merman's pretty cute if I do say so myself," said David. "And if they aren't dating, heck, that means he's free game right?"

Kyle frowned, "Don't talk about him like he's some sort of meat. Have some decency for goodness sake." His pale yellow and lavender tail flickered in annoyance. Turning to Christian he raised an eyebrow, "And really? A mermaid? You act like you don't know your own brother." Kyle swam towards the bathroom where Arthur had twirled into a while ago. "Baby brother, are you ok? You've been in there for quite some time now."

The youngest prince sighed happily as he came out with a red flower in hand. He grabbed a hold of Kyle and twirled him around while humming a cheerful tune. "Hi, big brother. You're voice sounded extra beautiful today," he said, giving him a kiss on both cheeks, much like how Feli did to him and his siblings. Thinking it best to just go with it, Kyle let out a bubble of giggles and twirled with his youngest brother until he got dizzy. Letting go, Arthur swam past his gaping brothers and accidentally bumped into Robert's chest. "Oh, morning, Bobby." He tucked the red flower behind his brother's ear, the flower almost blending into the red head's hair. "I'll see you guys later." Arthur swam out of their rehearsal room as he harmonized and danced with himself.

Robert and his brother's stared after Arthur until they saw the red and silver tip of his fin disappear from sight. The king looked at Roderich, who was quickly putting away the last of the instruments. "I say, Roddy, good work," he cried happily. "You accomplished a miracle in just a few days where I couldn't in years. If I knew you were going to be this good at keeping him in line, I would've suggested you do this sooner. What have you been doing all our lives?"

"Composing symphonies, your majesty," answered Roderich dryly, adjusting the glasses on his face. "As I should be doing now. So, if you excuse me, Robert. Young majesties." The violet eyed merman swam as fast as he could after Arthur.

Roderich's departure didn't faze the royal brothers as they were quite used to him leaving to play with his instruments and compose music for them in the privacy of his own room. David tucked his tail beneath him and floated higher than his brothers while on his back, "That wasn't Roderich's miracle work, big brother. He's got it bad."

"Huh?" Robert looked away examining himself in the mirror, "Who does? What has he got?"

" _Arthur_ , big brother," sighed Kyle happily. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Uh…"

Christian rolled his eyes but allowed himself to smile, "Looks like our little Arthur is growing up. The boy's in love."

"In love? "Taking the flower from his hair he inspected it. Red. The color of passion. The color of desire. The color of…love! "Arthur's in love?!" An excited smile began to grow on his face. Maybe _this_ was a better solution to calm his baby brother.

* * *

Chaos. Complete and utter chaos. At least that's how Lovino saw the state of his kitchen. Pans here, pots over there, and piles upon piles of sweets. How he cursed himself for allowing Feliciano into his kitchen but if it kept him in sight and out of trouble then he'd just grin and bear it. Perhaps just bear it….or just…never mind. "CHIGI! What have I told you about dancing while cooking?! You could burn yourself. No! Don't add the clam powder yet. You have to wait until this stops bubbling else you're the texture is going to be-what are you doing now!" Lovino watched in horror as his brother started to add spice after spice into his pot of seaweed pasta sauce. He winced when he felt an annoyingly familiar chomp on his fin. Raising it towards his line of vision, he glared at the offender. "You! What have I told you about coming to the kitchen? Do you _want_ to be cooked, you little bastard?"

Feliciano giggled and pried the turtle from his brother's fin. Bringing the little creature to his chest in a hug he addressed his brother, "Aw, don't be like that, fratello. You know you love him."

"No, I don't," snapped Lovi. He grabbed a spoon and tasted the sauce his brother had made, sighing in approval. Perhaps the little idiot knew what he was doing after all. When he turned his attention back to his brother and the little pest, he was surprised that both were frowning. Well, Feli was. The turtle looked like it wanted to cry. He grunted in annoyance, "Damn it all, that stupid thing is worse than Antonio."

"You hurt his feelings, Lovi." Feli brought the turtle to his face to nuzzle its little head. The creature looked at Lovi sadly. "Don't worry, little one, Lovi does love you. Right, fratello?"

Lovi stared at them both before sighing and crossing his hands over his chest. With a blush he looked away, "I-I…I don't… _dislike_ him, per se. Gah!" The turtle launched itself to his head and hugged it tightly. "Get off of me, you little shit! Just 'cause I don't hate you doesn't mean I want you all over me. Damn it, I said get off!"

Feli giggled, "Well, I'll leave you two alone."

Pulling at the turtle in attempt to pry it from his head, little guy could hold on, Lovi gave up and turned to look at his brother in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I just, you know stuff."

"I asked where you were going not what."

"Out."

"With who?"

"Someone. I'll be back soon. Ciao!" Feli left before Lovi got a chance to ask for more information.

Lovi and the turtle exchanged looks. "You don't suppose…he's acting like how he used to when he had that little friend. He went on a sweet making marathon the last time he was in love." He looked at the candied kelp and sea grapes and smiled to himself. "You don't suppose my little brother's in love, do you?" The turtle nuzzled into chocolate locks letting out a happy purr. "Who said you can stay up there!"

* * *

Roderich had found Arthur lounging in his personal garden, one that Feli had kept up with, on a high rock and plucking petals off of flowers. The elder was swimming nervously back and forth while his charge continued to pluck petals, letting them shower onto Roderich's dark hair.

"Ok, it's been a couple of days and so far so good," muttered Roderich anxiously, "I don't think the king suspects anything, nor Lovino for that matter." He spit out a petal that had somehow made its way into his mouth. Glancing up at his charge he continued to pace, "And if Feli's managed to keep his mouth shut this long I think it's safe to say that he won't blab. But keeping a secret this big from Robert…No! I must. _We_ must. He'll kill me if he finds out. Not to mention Lovino; he'll shrink me back into a crab and serve me up with a side of that stupid pasta if he finds out what Feli was doing with that human." Roderich was starting to hyperventilate at the thought of both of his friends finding out what their little brothers had done under his watch. Poseidon help him.

Meanwhile Arthur continued to pluck petals, completely oblivious to the mental meltdown his caretaker was suffering. "Hmm," he sighed dreamily. A slight blush formed on his face, "He loves me. He loves me not." He glared at the offending petal and tossed away. "He loves me. He loves me not." His bushy eye brows shot up into his fringe when he saw that there was only one petal left. Grinning broadly he plucked it and held it over his heart, "He loves me! I knew he did!"

Gaping at his charge Roderich swam up to him. "Arthur, stop talking nonsense." Honestly, did the boy have no sense of restraint?

The prince ignored him. Getting a look that Roderich had come to dread, Arthur sat up. His tail flicking up and down with excitement, "I have to see him again. Maybe I can go tonight."

"Arthur..."

He pushed himself off the ledge and started to swim towards his room in hopes to find Feli there. "I bet that frog Francis will know where Alfred lives."

"Arthur please!"

"I'll swim to his castle and Feli can swim around to get his attention and-" The prince found himself immobilized. Turning around he saw that Roderich was glaring at him exasperatedly and holding on to his fin to keep him from swimming off. "Let go of that, Roderich. You know it's bloody bad manners to touch someone elses fin." ' _Though, I wouldn't mind Alfred touching it_ ,' he thought to himself with a blush.

Roderich did as he was asked; reaching for Arthur's arm instead. "Please, Arthur. For the love of Poseidon get your head out of the clouds and back to the water where it belongs. Just listen to me." He sat his charge back down on his rock. "Down here is your home. Why would you even want to get involved with a human? Their world is such a mess. And it smells."

"What does?" The two mermen looked at two blond merfolk, a mermaid with a pink and bronze tail and a merman with a royal blue and bronze tail and a scar over his eye brow. Emma smiled cheerfully at her young prince while her brother gave a nod to Roderich; both held their instruments seeing as they were heading towards the rehearsal room for orchestra practice.

"The human world," said Roderich with a sigh. "It would seem that Prince Arthur has an affinity with the surface. I'm _trying_ to get him to see reason." At the blank look he received, Roderich sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake." Arthur rolled his eyes at the cliché but Roderich ignored him. "You dream about going up there," shaking his shoulder's gently to enhance his point, "But that is a big mistake!" The prince raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Just look at the world around you," continued Roderich, "Right here on the ocean floor. Such wonderful things surround you." The elder merman gestured wildly to Arthur's garden, which was indeed very nice. "What more are you looking for?"

Emma jumped in when she saw the prince open his mouth to retort, "Under the sea. Under the sea." Taking a hold of his hands in hers she pulled him up and twirled upside down with him, "Darling, it's better down where it's wetter. Take it from me!"

Lars sighed and put his and his sister's instrument cases down. ' _Might as well help speed this along_ ', He thought as he swam over to hover next to Roderich. "Up on the shore they work all day. Out in the sun they slave away while we devote our full time to floating under the sea!"

The spectacled merman sighed in relief. At least he had others to back him up. With his friend's help he was sure he could convince Arthur about the superiority of sea life in comparison to surface life. Now if only he could…oh! Grinning he took the blond prince from Emma's grasp, "Down here all the fish are happy, as off through the waves they roll. The fish on the land aren't happy," he pointed at a miserable looking fish trapped inside an air bubble, "They're sad 'cause they're in their bowl. But fish in the bowl are lucky; they in for a worser fate."

They watched as Lars popped the bubble, "One day when the boss gets hungry, guess who's gonna be on the plate."

Arthur made a face. So humans ate fish…so did they. Perhaps not as often or as much. And perhaps it was _technically_ krill and shrimp but hey, who was keeping track of that. "Under the sea. Under the sea. Nobody beats us, fry us and eat us in fricassee," sang the three merpeople as fishes and other sea creatures were beginning to get into the song as well. Right. _They_ did. "We're what the land folks love to cook; under the sea we're off the hook!"

Man. They sure are paranoid about getting eaten aren't they.

"We've got no troubles," sang Roderich, now _way_ to into the song.

"Life is the bubbles," cried Emma happily, now dancing with her brother. "Under the sea. Under the sea. Since life is sweet here, we got the beat here, naturally~"

Lars smiled to himself at his sister enthusiasm and tried to match it, "Even the sturgeon and the ray; they get the urge and start to play. We've got the spirit; you've got to hear it under the sea!" This counted as band practice right?

Roderich swam around the garden, pointing to the sea creatures, most members of his orchestra, as they played their instruments, "The newt plays the flute. The carp plays the harp. The plaice play the bass and they're sounding sharp." Arthur smiled. The creatures did look like they were having fun. Perhaps…perhaps Rodreich is right about it being fun down here. "The bass plays the brass, the chub plays the tub and the fluke is the duke of soul!" The fluke pulled the saxophone shaped coral from his lips to confirm that statement.

"The ray, he can play the lings on the strings," sang Lars, swimming by the creatures, "The trout rockin' out; the black fish, well she sings. The smelt and the sprat, they know where it's at. And oh that blow fish blows." The blow fish glared at Lars and the merman returned it, their rivalry for first chair spiking.

Emma and Roderich oblivious to the rivalry feud between Lars and a fish continued to dance together, "Under the sea. Under the sea. When the sardine begin the beguine, it's music to me."

Arthur was beginning to get bored with the exhibition. Where was Feliciano when he needed him? Speak of the devil. He turned when he felt a tap on his shoulder and grinned. Finally, some salvation at last! The prince leaned in when his friend motioned to come closer, his eyes widening with glee he took a look around. Sure enough Roderich and his band were too absorbed in their song, more like a rant, to notice if he snuck away. Feli took Arthur's hand in his and led him away.

"What do they have? A lot of sand," continued Roderich. "We've got a hot crustacean band. Each little clam here knows how to jam here under the sea!"

The mermaid patted the little sea slugs and sang, "Each little slug here is cuttin' a rug here under the sea."

"Each little snail here knows how to wail here," Roderich was joined by the two siblings, "that's why it's hotter under the water. Ja we're in luck here, down in the muck here. Under the sea!" Everyone turned to look excitedly to where their prince was seated. Only to find that his seat was now vacant. Having nothing else to do, the sea creatures packed away their instruments to head on home. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Lars and Emma looked up from their instrument case then at each other before giving Roderich a final look. The elder sibling responded, "Well, we figured that counted as rehearsal so now we're going home." Taking his sisters case with his, Lars swam away quickly before Roderich had a chance to retort.

"Bye-bye, Roddy," cried Emma happily. "Good luck with the young prince. I bet you're going to do just fine."

She took off after her brother leaving Roderich alone and staring at Arthur's empty seat. He heaved a long suffering sigh while he rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Someone ought to nail that boy's fins to the floor," muttered Roderich.

"RODERICH!"

"Oh, come on!" Roderich slipped the glasses back onto his face and turned around, his heart stopping when he saw Toris swimming towards him. This can't be good.

The petite merman slowed to a halt, his hair flying wildly in the water, just before he could collide with Roderich. Toris's sea foam green tail moved slowly from exhaustion as he caught his breath. "Roderich, I've been looking all over for you! The King has told me to tell you that your presence is required in the throne room _immediately_. He said that it has something to do with Arthur." Toris swam back towards the castle, now fully relaxed, having done his duty.

Roderich flicked his tail back and forth slowly when what Toris had just told him sank in. He drew in a sharp gasp, "HE KNOWS?!"

* * *

The sea king sat in his throne happily gazing at the red blossom in his hand while Lovino was setting a small table before him. The little turtle helped him by bringing the plates with food. "What's got you in such a good mood, Robert?" Lovino looked at his chuckling king in time to see his smile broaden which made him grin in response.

"Well, I was just informed that my baby brother is in love," said Robert proudly, placing the flower back in his hair.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! I had Toris go get Roddy for me so I can ask him if he's seen him interacting with anyone more than usual."

Lovino scoffed. "Yeah? Well, Feli hasn't told me shit about it if his has. And you know just as well as I that if Feli doesn't know then Roddy probably doesn't know. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

The brunette scratched his cheek in thought. "You don't think that my brother…and your brother…that they… you know…"

"What?" Robert looked down at his friend in confusion. "That they what?"

Lovino resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Really now, for the ruler of the seven seas and everything in between, sole wielder of the Trident, Robert could be a real, for lack of better words, dumbass. "You don't suppose that Feli and Arthur are together, do you?"

"Well of course I do. They've been together since we introduced them. Little Feli is my baby brother's best friend but what does that have to do with anything?"

Instead of snarling in frustration, Lovi sighed and swam up so that he could see the sea king face to face. "That's not what I meant. Today Feliciano made a crap load of candy while dancing and singing to himself. Last time I saw him that happy was way back in our youth and he had this little friend he had a crush on. Now don't you think it's strange that both _my_ brother and _your_ brother are displaying the same lovey dovey symptoms? At the same time?" At the blank look he received, Lovi decided that perhaps it was best to just be blunt. "I think they've fallen in love."

"Oh, well, yeah I knew _that_ much already. But I don't understand the conec-"

"With each other."

The king stopped flicking his golden tail and just stared at Lovi. Feliciano and Arthur? In love? With each other?! His grip on the Trident became tighter which worried the brunette some. But he didn't have time to get away; Robert reached out and pulled him into an embrace, "That means we're going to be in-laws! Oh happy days! With them _together_ together then that means we're going to have nieces and nephews and that means that we won't have to worry about them going to the surface because they'll have their hands full. Oh, Lovi , this is bloody brilliant!"

"Gah-I..I can't even begin to name all the things wrong with that sentence," grunted Lovi. A shy cough interrupted their hug and Robert immediately put his friend down.

"Roddy! Just the merman we were waiting for. Come on over, man!"

Roderich took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and, "I must not overreact. I must remain calm." He willed for his tail to stop twitching and for his arms to stop shaking. 'Please, please, please! Please, don't give me away, body,' he thought to himself. His heart was beating a thousand times a minute, or so it would seem. Wiping his brow he cleared his throat. "Ok," he whispered to himself as he felt his friend's eyes on him. Oh great. Lovi was there too. Oh, goodness. Oh, Poseidon _help_ him! They're going to kill him and serve him up for the next celebration. No! No, they're not. They're your friends. I'm sure if I calmly explain things to them everything will be just fi-"

"Any time now, you music bastard," yelled Lovino in irritation.

The older brunet yelped and swam as fast as he could towards his friends. "I'm sorry," he squeaked. Clearing his throat, and ignoring Lovi's sniggers, he tried again. "I'm sorry to make you wait, your majesty."

Robert waved away his worries. "It's fine. Though, I must say that I'm concerned about Arthur."

"What? Why? You said that it was a miracle that he was happy!" Oh, Poseidon, he knows. He really does!

"I did. However, the cause of his happiness has been brought to my attention and I, well _we_ ," he gestured between himself and Lovi, "were hoping if you could shed some light on the matter."

Roderich gulped at the intensity of the stares he was receiving. "Light…on the matter, sir?"

Robert grinned and leaned his face closer to Roderich's, "Mmhmm, about Arthur and Feliciano."

"Oh, well I-I-"

" _Roderich,_ " sang Robert playfully bringing the trident's edge to Roderich's chin, "We know you've been keeping something from us." Roderich's eyes bulged from fear. They really _were_ going to kill him! "About our little brothers?" By this time Lovino was leaning on Robert's shoulder on his belly, eager to listen in on the gossip, er, news.

"Little brothers?" Roderich was whimpering by now though his friends took no notice.

Oh, why did they have to be grinning like that?! Where they happy that they were going to kill him? Robert's green eyes glittered with joy as he gave a final mental nudge, "In _love_."

"I'M SORRY," cried Roderich throwing himself at their mercy. "I _tried_ to stop them, guys, but they wouldn't listen!" Both mermen jumped in surprise. "I told them to stay away from the humans," continued Roderich, unaware at the shocked faces on Robert's and Lovino's face. "I told them that they were bad, that they were nothing but trouble but-"

Robert was first to react, "Humans? What _about_ humans," he growled sitting straighter, his Trident glowing ominously. Looking closer his red eye brows furrowed in angry confusion, "And what the bloody hell is that on your face."

Roderich stopped talking immediately, realization sinking in like heavy lead in his belly. Oh shit.

* * *

"Can I open my eyes yet, Feli?" Arthur allowed himself to be dragged by the arm towards his and Feli's trove while keeping his eyes firmly shut.

"No, not yet. Don't worry though, we're almost there," said Feliciano giddily. "Hold on, I'm going to open the cave ok? Don't go stop swimming until I tell you, wouldn't want to get your fin caught."

"Ok. But why can't you just tell me what this is all about? The suspense is killing me."

"Patience, Artie. It's a surprise!" Feli gently took Arthur's arm again and continued their journey further into the cave. "Ok, ready? One, two,OPEN!"

"Honestly, if it's another plate of pasta I'm going to-OH!" There, before Arthur's eyes stood Alfred, posing heroically. "Oh, Feli," murmured Arthur as he swam slowly towards the human prince. The statue of him at least. "Oh, Feli, you're the best! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He turned towards his friend and picked him up in a hug before rushing to his gift. "How on earth did you even get him in here?"

Feli rubbed his arm sheepishly, "Well, it took me a while but I managed little by little." He smiled as he watched his friend cuddle up to the statue, he looked down at his own little gift, a small Ink Splatter of Ludwig and another human with red eyes.

Arthur chuckled happily and wrapped his arms around statue's neck, "Oh, what's that, Alfred? Run away with you? Oh, this is all so, so sudden." Not being able to handle his own happiness he let go abruptly and twirled around with Feli, both laughing until they heard two sharp intakes of breath and a whimper. Pulling away from each other to see who had intruded in on their special place they released a startled gasp.

Face hidden in the shadow, Arthur could still make out the very familiar, very dangerous glow of his brother's emerald eyes and the golden sheen of the scales of his tail. Next to him, Feli froze when he saw that Robert wasn't alone. Lovino was next to him looking just as angry as the king. Arthur swam forward in effort to keep the statue from his brother's line of vision. "B-big brother? W-what are you doing here with Lovi and-" he narrowed his eyes when he saw Roderich on his brother's right side, "and _him_." He spat out the word, too hurt and betrayed to say Roderich's name.

Robert slowly swam towards his brother, hand on the trident becoming tighter and tighter. "I consider myself to be a very reasonable merman. I've given you and our brothers everything and anything you could possibly want. I've even allowed Feli into our family because I knew how much he meant to you. All I asked for in return was one simple thing. And I expected for you two to obey it," he growled.

"But, Robert, I-"

"Is it true that you both saved a pair of humans from drowning," snarled Lovino, coming around to glare at Feli.

"F-fratello, we had to," cried Feli in defense as he slowly made his way towards his corner of the room to grab his box, should anything bad go down.

"Contact between the human world and the mer-world is strictly forbidden," shouted Robert, his eyes beginning to glow with anger. "Ever since dad died, I've taken extra care to make sure that that particular rule is obeyed. You know this! Everyone knows this! And you Arthur, you are a prince, you should be the exemplary merman to obey all rules!"

Eyebrows furrowed in both anger and fear Arthur couldn't believe it. They were getting in trouble for something so stupid and selfless. He met his brother's darker eyes with his own lighter ones, "But they could've died, Rob-"

"Two less humans to worry about!"

"You don't even know them!"

Robert scoffed and started to laugh darkly, "Know them? I don't have know them. They're all the same; spineless, harpooning, fish eating killers who murder more sea creatures than they know what to do with. Do you honestly believe that the two humans you saved are any different?! A human killed _our_ father. _His_ grandfather. What makes you think these two savages won't turn on you the second you turn your backs on them?!" Arthur, breathing heavily as angry tears stung at his eyes, shied behind the statue in search of some sort of comfort. Feli was too far away and something told him that making too fast or too sudden movements would only enrage his brother further. But Robert was too lost to notice that his brother had moved away from him. That his friends were moving away from him. "They're incapable of feeling anything but selfishness and-"

"Bobby, I love him," cried out Arthur. His cheeks red with anger, his tail swishing like it had a mind of its own. Feli stared wide eyed at his friend. Did he really just confess that? And to the sea king of all people? Oh, dear. He hugged his box to himself. Lovino and Roderich were frozen in place with their jaws wide open. They now officially feared for their charges safety. The prince gasped when he realized what he just said looked to Feli in despair.

Robert's voice and gaze turned icy. "No. I won't allow that," he muttered. And though his voice was quiet, it cut through the teens like the sharpest of blades. He turned his gaze to Feliciano, making the teen flinch, "And you? Do you feel the same?" Locking eyes with Arthur then to his king, Feli nodded. "Have you two lost your senses?! They're human, you're mermen!"

Arthur had his arms wrapped around statue Alfred's neck and he pressed the side of his cheek against his back, "We don't care." Feliciano took this time to swim to his friend to hold his hand in support. No way was he going to let him to take all the heat by himself. Not when they were both guilty of the same crime. Not again.

Though seeing that small action only seemed add fuel to Robert's wrath. "So, help me, Arthur. I _am_ going to get through to you." His Trident lit up with power, "And if this is the only way to do so, then so be it." He aimed the Trident at wall after wall, destroying all the trinkets and treasures Feli and Arthur had taken years upon years to cultivate.

"Robert, don't," cried Arthur as he watched in horror but his brother was past listening. He was extinguishing all traces of human culture, going for the larger objects first and letting the explosions destroy the smaller ones in its wake. "No! No, Robert, please!" Feli tightened his grip on Arthur's hand with a devastated sob when his corner was destroyed as well.

Roderich's heart was breaking at the sight of Feli's tears and Arthur's desperate cries. Looking over Lovi, he could feel safe to assume that the short tempered merman was feeling the same. "Big Brother, stop it!" They tore their eyes from the mess and felt them widen when the sea king aimed the trident at Feli's box. In his hands.

Lovino growled, "Don't! Robert that's my brother's special box, don't-" A pained grunt followed by a smash told the older brother all he needed to know. Robert wasn't going to show any mercy.

Arthur's heart dropped when he saw that his brother had shot at Feli's box, whether he was aware that the merman had it in his hands was beside him. He rushed to his injured friend and helped him up. "I-I'm…o-ok, Artie," he said weakly. "Your statue."

"What," whispered Arthur.

"Your statue!"

Robert pointed his Trident one last time, this time at the statue of Alfred. Arthur rushed to Robert in attempt to take the trident from him, "Big brother, no!" He watched in horror as the Trident's power overwhelmed the marbled statue making it shatter into pieces. Lovino swam as fast as he could over to his brother to shield him from the flying pieces, taking multiple shrapnel to his back.

"Oh," whispered Arthur, "Oh, no. No." He felt heavy. He felt light. He felt…his body sank onto a rock and he allowed his form to drape over it as it fell. His shoulders heaved violently as he sobbed into his arms.

Robert's eyebrows unfurrowed as he looked at his brother then at the damage he caused. Feeling his own heart drop to his stomach, he looked at the Trident in his hands. Guilt was immediately working him and his being over as mercilessly as he had been just seconds ago. He looked over to the corner where Lovino was pulling himself away from a disheveled and shaken Feli. His eyes automatically zooming in on the shards of marble embedded on his friend's back. The red mark on his younger brother's stomach where it would later turn into an ugly purple from the bolt of energy he had shot him with. 'Oh, Father,' he thought to himself with disgust, 'what have I done?!' Arthur's sobs grew louder and he couldn't take it anymore. Robert swam away but was followed closely by Lovino who shoved him against the cave as soon as they got out side. The sea king didn't even fight it. Whatever his friend was going to do would be the _very_ _least_ he deserved after the destruction he caused. "Lovi-"

"Shut up," hissed Lovino. "Just shut the fuck up." Robert bit his lip. "I don't care what you do in regards to Arthur. He's _your_ brother. _Your_ responsibility. But when it comes to _my_ brother, Feliciano is _mine_ to do with what I need to do. You attacking him like that was uncalled for."

"I didn't mean to hurt him. I just-"

"But you did! Not only did you cause my brother physical harm but you probably shattered his emotional stability just like you've all but destroyed Arthurs. And those things in that box he was guarding were very important to him. Things our grandfather left him, among other things."

"I'm sorry, Lovi, I didn't-"

"Know? Yeah, you didn't. Know why? Because you didn't give them a chance to explain! I have a shit temper I know I do. But even then my hate for the humans doesn't go above the love I have for my brother. Yes, even I was pissed off by what they did, but I don't believe what you did merited to anything. All you got from your little pissy fit was your brother's hate. And my resignation notice."

Robert blinked, "What? Lovi you can't be seri-"

"Effective immediately," muttered Lovino pulling away from the sea king. "I'll start packing and Feli and I will be on our way as soon as possible." He didn't let Robert respond. Instead he swam as fast as he could back to the palace. Robert felt his mouth dry up but all he could do is sigh and swim back to his the castle as well.

Back in the cave, Arthur's loud sobs quieted down to soft ones. His shoulders still shook and his head was still buried in his arms. Rodrich took a hesitant pace forward, "Arthur, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to tell him I just-"

"You bloody wanker! How could you?! You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"I didn't mean to! I thought he knew. I-"

Just go away," whispered Arthur hoarsely. When he felt Roderich's hand on his shoulder he shoved it off, "Didn't you hear me?! I said leave me alone!" Roderich flinched but did as he was told. Feli looked at his broken friend sadly and moved to follow Roderich out of the cave but a weak grasp on his wrist prevented him from going further. "Not you, you git," whimpered Arthur, "Don't leave me." Feliciano sat down beside Arthur and allowed the he weeping merman to cry into his lap, wincing when the vibrations of his shudders added pressure to his abdomen.

Two black and silver lion fishes peeked from the safety of the highest shelf to the mermen below. Their mismatched eyes were glowing with mischief as the descended on them, turning into mermaids as they did. "Poor children," cooed Natasha, while circling at them alongside her sister.

"Poor _sweet_ children," purred Natalya,"They have a _very_ serious problem."

Natasha pulled Feli against her chest, making him blush with discomfort, "If only there were something we could do, sister."

Natalya did the same with Arthur, pulling the merman's cheek against hers, "But there _is_ something, big sister."

Arthur frowned, "Unhand us this instant!" The mermaids let go and smiled pleasantly. The prince trailed his eyes to their tails. The mermaid with short platinum blond hair had a sea foam blue tail with black along her sides and embracing the blue of her fin. The one with long platinum hair had metallic lilac with black encasing only her fin. His green eyes also took note of their eye patches. "Who are you," he asked scooting closer to his friend.

"Don't be scared, little prince," said Natasha once again coming close to the two teens.

"Da, we represent our big broth-someone who can help you." Natalya ran her fingers through Arthur's hair making him squirm with irritation.

"Someone who can make all your dreams come true."

"Just imagine," the two mermaids pulled away and hugged one another beginning to speak in unison, "you and your lovers, together, forever."

"Arthur," whispered Feli, gripping his box tightly to his chest. "Arthur, I don't like this."

A dark look ran past the mermaids faces but it was gone as fast as it came. Natasha smiled again. "But why not, little comrade? The prince knows of whom we speak."

"No, I don't," said Arthur with a frown.

"Big brother Ivan has great powers. You know this to be true, Prince." Natalya and Natasha sighed lovingly at the thought of their brother making both mermen shudder. Wait Ivan?

"You don't mean the mer-warlock? The one who taught here in Atlantica Academy? The Sea beast?"

"Don't you call him that," hissed Natalya threateningly. She cried out in pain as her eyeball glowed behind her eye patch. "Forgive me, Prince Arthur. It's just that, my brother was falsely charged and now lives in exile. _Your_ brother exiled him." At the mention of his brother Arthur's gaze hardened. He remembered that day. He remembered it well.

"Arthur," cried Feli, tugging at his arm. "Arthur, you can't seriously be considering it! We can't go there, we can't!" Arthur said stayed quiet and the mermaids knew that they were very close in hooking him. If only they would just bait him a little bit closer.

Natasha shrugged, "suit yourselves." She tugged her protesting sister out of the cave, giving the remains of Alfred's statue a swift kick with her fin, "It was only a suggestion."

The prince picked it up sadly, weighing the options in his head. "Wait!"


	5. Poor Unfortunate Souls

Beady green eyes watched sadly as his adorable master muttered angrily to himself while swimming back and forth between his drawers and his clam case. Lovino took a quick look around to make sure everything he need was packed. Oh! Rushing over to the kitchen, the turtle following after him of course, he picked out his two favorite pans and dumped them into his case as well. Ah. He threw in the spatula while he was at it.

"Right," he said out loud. "Now to go back up Feli's room then we'll be on our way." Lovi grimaced when he felt a chomp on his fin. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy? I don't have time to play with you right now, you little bast-oh." Taking the turtle from his fin, he took a heart shaped locket from around the turtle's neck and opened it. Inside, Antonio was hugging him to his chest and showering his face with kisses. Lovi smiled sadly and put it around his own neck, "Thank you, little one." With a gentle pat on its little head he coaxed him away before dragging his clam case over to Feli's room. His hand hesitated over the door knob when, Lovi gave a quick glance across the hallway to Arthur's room. What will Arthur think? How…how-will he be even more devastated when he comes back and finds out that his best friend will no longer be at his beck and call? No. That was cruel way of describing his brother's and the prince's relationship.

"What are you doing?" Lovino jumped when he heard David's voice. The young merman eyed him curiously, his tail moving at a leisurely pace. Lovi's hazel eyes caught sight of a bag behind the prince's back. David took notice and blushed, "Ah, this…this is for Feli. I thought that maybe…he might, you know, maybe want to go…out and…uh, what I mean is. Feli isn't dating Arthur is he?"

"No."

David smiled in relief. "Oh good! Then he really is free game. Uh! Not that I think that he's meat. No, I would never. Kyle told me that I should be more careful about how I look at merfolk. Not that I look at merfolk constantly, mostly mermaids." The young prince panicked when he realized what he said, "B-but I do think that mermen are pretty hot too, you know? I have no problem with guys dating guys. Uh-"

"Is there something you need from my brother's room? Or is that bowl of pasta and candy for your brother?"

"Well, I was going to ask him if he'd like to join me for a bowl. Is he in?" David brought out the bowl of seaweed pasta and held it in front of him. "I know that it's his favorite."

Lovi eyed the mess in the bowel with apprehension, "Did you make this yourself?" When David blushed the older merman sighed, "Well, I guess you might as well know. Next time add the seaweed to the sauce after it's been thoroughly cleaned. You'll do well to remember that."

"Because I'll need to cook it more for Feli?"

"No! Because from now on you and your brothers are going to be cooking your own damn meals until the king finds a replacement for me. Now if you excuse me, I have to go pack Feli's room up." Lovino entered Feli's room, surprised by how clean it was. Ok. Start with his... Lovi swam slowly to his shelf where he had a medallion of both of them with their grandfather. It had been created before Lovino had come to Atlantica to study at Atlantica Academy. His grandfather smiled and gave both of them kisses, a young Lovi wiping it off his reddening cheek. Lovi smiled to himself and closed the medallion. That definitely had to come with them.

"What do you mean find a replacement for you? And what are you doing taking Feli's things? What's with the case?"

Lovino rolled his eyes, "It means exactly like what it sounds like and it looks exactly like what you see. I'm packing. I quit. We are leaving."

"You and Feliciano?"

"No, me and Roddy. Yes me and my brother! Jeez, all you brothers are cut from the same cloth, I swear." Lovi swam about the room looking for anything that his brother could not leave behind. Well, the box, but he already had that with him.

"Why?" David came forward staring at Lovi with his large green eyes. His blond hair drifted in every direction with his quick movements in attempt to keep up with the older merman. He reached out and tugged at his tanned arm in attempt to get him to stand still, "Please, tell me. What happened? Why are you two leaving? Does Arthur know? Does Robert? Lovi!"

"No, Arthur doesn't know and it kills me to think how he's going to react when he finds out. Yes, Robert knows and as for why, well, why don't you go ask him. Be careful though, he'll probably wreck your room as well." Lovi turned to the prince and shook his hand, "It was a pleasure cooking for you and watching you and your brothers grow."

But David wouldn't let go of his hand when Lovi, "Why can't _you_ just tell me?"'

"Why do you care so much? It's not like Feli well ever see you the way you want him to. He is in love but it's not with any of you and I'll go ahead and spare you any ridicule you might put yourself through and say that no matter what you do, nothing is going to put a crack in the love he has for that one person."

"I don't care. He's still my friend. Yeah he spends more time with Arthur and whatever but we do hang out too. Why won't you tell me why you're taking him from us? Arthur's going to be devastated."

Lovi sighed and pulled his hand away. "Robert hurt him."

"Like he yelled at him?"

"That and he shot at him with the Trident. They went to the surface and saved a couple of humans and your brother lost it. He went to that 'special place' they're always going on about and he destroyed everything in it. He then shot at Feli and while I can see that he didn't mean it, I can't bring myself to serve him after he did that." Lovino picked up the shell case and swam out of the room. He failed to see the look of horror on David's face and the look of anger on Christian's as he swam past him and the other princes.

Connor and Murphy crossed their arms over their chest, "Well, they brought it upon themselves," they said together. The older twin snorted, "Robert did tell them time and time again not to go up there. What's so special about it anyway? It's so hot and disgusting."

Kyle raised a blond eyebrow, "And how do _you_ know that?"

Connor nudged his brother. "We don't. We just assume it is cause it's so bright out there."

"It doesn't matter whether or not you think it's disgusting. Obviously the surface holds some significance to Arthur and his friend," muttered Christian. "…Dad liked it." He looked down at his orange and white speckled tail in thought. "Kyle, go and try to convince Lovi not to leave. I'm going to go talk to our big brother." Kyle nodded and swam after Lovi in time to catch him before the merman left the castle. Christian watched as his younger brother spoke rapidly to the Italian before taking off in search of Robert.

David came out when Kyle came back from talking to Lovi. "Well," he asked, "What did Lovi say?"

Kyle sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "He said that he'd think about it."

"Where is he going now?"

"He's going to go find Feli to talk to him about what he wants to do."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

* * *

 

Roderich sat miserably on a rock just outside the cavern he was cast out of. He fumbled with the glasses he took, running his fingers along the black frames. Guilt was chewing his insides, making his tummy hurt. The look on Arthur's face when Robert destroyed his trove would forever haunt him. The look of pain when Feli was shoved against the wall when a bolt hit the box in his hands would forever be embedded in his memory. Oh, why did they have to be so…different? Why couldn't they just be like all the other merfolk. And why, why, _why_ did he have to care so much about their well-being and their feelings. Why couldn't he have more of a back bone and defend them? Roderich brought a pale hand to wipe his eyes before placing the glasses back on his face. "Why couldn't I have just kept my mouth shut," he asked himself. Long before Feli came into the picture he remembered Arthur being a bit of a loaner. Sure his brothers would play with him but with such a large age gap between some of them, David being the only one close to his age, they tended to pick on each other more often than not. True with time they had grown out of it, for the most part, but Arthur was still a pretty sad merman. "And now, I've taken from him one of the few things that did make him…hap-happy." Four figures swam over him casting shadows to where he was looking. Glancing up, he paled.

With furrowed brows, he followed after his charges and the two mermaids, "Arthur, where are you going?" He curled his lip at Natasha and Natalya, though they paid no mind. "What are you doing with these-these riffraff? Natalya growled softly but at her sister's touch she ignored the jab.

"We're going to go see Ivan." Arthur swam faster, his hand in Feli's to make sure he could keep up. He didn't even give a second glance back when he heard Roderich sharply intake a breath.

"Arthur! You can't go to him; he's a demon. A monster!" Natasha and her sister fought the urge to turn around and attack Roderich when they heard that but a gentle touch to their inner beings calmed them. Ivan cooed to them that he didn't mind being called that. If anything it, well… He chuckled when he felt his sisters speed up. Arthur and Feli kicked their tails to keep up but Arthur found that Roderich was holding on to his tightly.

Turning around he sent a cold glare to his caretaker, "Why don't you go tell my brother what I'm up to? Your good at that." Arthur pulled his tail away and continued.

"But…But I," he looked at their retreating figures, panic rising within him.

"Where are they going?" Roderich flinched when he heard Lovino from behind him. Turning around he saw that the merman was staring after his brother and Arthur. "Who's that with them?"

"No, time to explain. J-just-just...oh! Come on," he cried out in frustration and took Lovino's arm so that the two could chase after their charges.

Arthur and Feli were lead past boarders of Atlantica into deep sea and though the two had explored much they were confused when the mermaids lead them past mounds of bubbling water. Arthur took in his surroundings and squeezed his friend's hand in comfort when he heard the brunette whimper in fear. "Stiff upper lip, old chap. We'll be fine," he whispered to Feli.

It was all Feli could do not to pull away and swim back home. The golden scales on his dark aqua blue tail tingled in warning as the mermaids lead them to what seemed like the remains of a giant sea beast. He started to resist Arthur's insistent tugging, "I-I don't want to go in there, Arthur."

"And why the bloody hell not?"

"Arthur…my scales are tingling," he looked at his friend pleadingly. "Please, lets just go back."

"To what? We'll only be miserable. I'll be miserable. I'm sorry , Feli, but if what those two mermaids said is true and Ivan really can help us get what we want, then I'm all for it. Don't you want to see Ludwig again?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then quit stalling and let's go." Arthur looped his arm through Feli's and the both entered the mouth of the beast. Strange creatures, coral polyps perhaps, began to cry out in alarm. Ok, this _is_ a bit scary but…Arthur kept swimming. Natasha and Natalya were quite unfazed by the creatures crying out. The polyps' eyes widened when they saw who the merman was that was trailing after them. Immediately they shot up and wrapped themselves around Arthur.

Feliciano dropped his box in surprise and rushed to free Arthur, only to shriek in horror when one grabbed at his own wrist, its eyes begging him for something he didn't understand. They looked familiar to him somehow and as he tried to tug away, he could see desperate tears well in its green eyes. Natalya helped them rid him of the polyps while Natasha handed the box over with a pleased smile and they continued on until the mermen could see a lavender glow of light. "That was creepy, Artie," whispered Feliciano. "It was like they were warning us or something."

Arthur gulped and nodded; for once agreeing with Feli that perhaps they shouldn't have come after all. They hovered by the door even after Natasha and Natalya had entered the room. The walls were covered with bottles with creatures or parts of creatures. Books and ruins laid about in no particular order. Despite the creepy nature the tunnel that had lead him here, the room just as creepy if not more so, Arthur felt himself relax at the familiarity the room held for him. As a magical merman he could appreciate what most of the objects were. A happy giggle interrupted him from his thoughts.

"Little Arthur," cried Ivan from his crevice. He poked his head out and smiled cheerfully. "It's been too long, da? Well, don't just lurk there. Come in. Come in, comrade!" Ivan swam out to properly greet his guests. "Don't tell me that in my absence, all your gentlemanly manners have disappeared," he teased. Arthur swam inside slowly with Feli following behind. They watched as Ivan sat down at a vanity; Natalya ran a brush through his hair while Natasha pulled out his favorite white scarf. He allowed himself to be dotted upon with a lazy grin. "Now then, why did you come to me, comrade? Oh, wait! Don't tell me, let me guess." Ivan brought a hand to his chin in thought, "Ah, yes. You have crush on human, da, this human prince fellow. Not that I blame you, he _is_ quite handsome."

"You're more handsome big brother," murmured Natalya, giving Ivan a hug. Natasha pulled her away so that Ivan could take care of business with his guest.

The prince widened his eyes in surprise, "H-how did you know?" Looking closer at the mer-warlock he backed away, "What happened to your eyes?! I remember them being, violet or something like that."

Ivan brought his hands to his cheekbones as if he forgot about his eyes. Then he smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling delightfully, making Feli shiver in fear. "Ah, yes. I was young and stupid in that time and, in my exile, I wasn't allowed to leave much. So my beautiful and thoughtful sisters offered to be my eyes. Come now, girls. Don't be shy. Show my favorite pupil what I mean." The mermaids removed their eye patches making both Arthur and Feli gasp when they saw it.

"Y-you traded your eyes?"

"Da. It was a small price to pay but now," he swam over to his sisters and gave them a kind kiss on their cheeks, "I have a little piece of them with me no matter how far they are. Unlike me, they don't have limitations to where they want to go. But enough of that. We're here because of your…dilemma. Of course, you were right to come to me. The solution to your problem is simple. The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself."

Arthur gasped, "Is that even possible?" He felt his heart quicken with excitement. "Can you really do something like that?"

The tone behind the prince's voice was enough to put a wicked smile on Ivan's face. Smoothing out his scarf, he pulled away from his sisters to come closer to the two teen mermen. "My dear, sweet prince," he cooed sweetly. "That's what I do. It's what I live for; to help unfortunate merfolk like yourselves." Ivan brought his arms around Arthur's and Feli's shoulders, "Poor souls with no one else to turn to." Feli pulled away and hugged his box to his chest. The elder blond merman raised an eye brow, "I admit that in the past I've been a nasty. They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a beast." He smirked when he heard his sisters giggle, "But you'll find that nowadays I've mended all my ways; repented, seen the light, and made a switch to this." Arthur watched as Ivan took a hold of Natasha and swam with her in a dance, "And I fortunately know a little magic. It's a talent that I always have possessed."

Arthur snorted. Ivan knew more than just a _little_. He jumped when the older merman to him. Cupping his chin, Ivan wiggled a finger playfully in front of him, "And dear gentleman, please don't laugh. I use it on behalf of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed." His smile grew when he heard his sisters mutter 'pathetic.' "Poor unfortunate souls; in pain, in need," he sang as he pulled open a pedestal. With a swift move of his hands the pedestal began to glow lavender and two images of miserable looking merfolk appeared. He pointed to each, "This one longing to be thinner. That one wants to get the girl. And do I help them?" Ivan snapped his fingers, making obvious changes to the mercouple and they embraced each other lovingly, "Yes, indeed. Those poor unfortunate souls. So sad, so true. They come flocking to my cauldron crying, 'Spells, Ivan, please!' and I help them! Da, I do"

Looking at his guest sadly, Ivan sighed. "Now it's happened once or twice, someone couldn't pay the price, and I'm afraid I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals."

The two images squeaked in terror as they became coral polyps. Arthur stared with wide eyes. Then that meant…those things grabbing them in the entrance… _they_ were merpeople? His body shivered and he moved to float next to Feli. Well, a deal was a deal. Right?

"Yes I've had the odd complaint," interrupted Ivan when he saw the look of doubt cross Arthur's face, "But on the whole I've been a saint to those poor unfortunate souls!" He giggled and used his scarf to pull in Arthur to his chest, "Now, here's the deal. I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. Got that? Three days. Now listen carefully, comrade. Before the sunsets on the third day, you have to get this prince to fall in love with you. " Arthur blushed and he looked up to meet Ivan's eyes in question. "He's got to kiss you," he clarified, "But not just any kiss. The kiss of _true_ love. If he does kiss you before the sunsets on the third day, you'll remain human permanently. But if he doesn't you'll turn back into a merman. And you'll belong…to me."

"No," cried Roderich as he rushed in, "Arthur, you can't-mmh!" Natalya wrapped herself around Roderich and held a blade to his neck. The two teen mermen didn't notice him struggle.

Ivan glanced over Arthur's shoulder, his eyes glittering in approval. He shifted his gaze back to the merman in his arms, "Have we got a deal?"

"Wait a second." Arthur pushed himself away from the merman's pale chest. "What about Feli?" When Ivan cocked his head in confusion, the prince elaborated. "Can't you turn him into a human too?"

"I-I…I don't know, Arthur," whimpered Feli in fear. "This sounds like we'll have a lot to lose if it fails…"

"Now see here, Feliciano. Don't tell me you've forgotten about the promise we've made when we were kids. Remember? We said that if either of us got the chance to go to the surface that neither would go unless we both could." Arthur turned back to Ivan, "The deal can be for the both of us, right?"

Ivan flicked his black tail in thought, "Da, I suppose so." He smiled gently to Feli, "Is that something you'd like, little comrade?"

"Well…"

"Please, Feli," cried Arthur grasping to his shoulders, "I can't do this alone. This really is the answer to all of our problems. Going to the surface has always been our dream!" Feli looked away, not having the heart that _his_ obsession with the surface was only due to one thing. Person. "What about Ludwig?" _That_ person. "This could be your chance to find him and tell him how much he means to you."

"What about our brothers? If we do this we'll never be able to see them again." He loved Ludwig yes, but what about Lovino? He loved him just as much and he didn't want to leave him all alone. What would he think? He'd think that he abandoned him just like he thought Antonio did.

"Right," mumbled Arthur. "I didn't think about that."

Ivan felt the distance from his prize become greater. "But, you'll have your lovers," he reasoned. "Life is full of tough choices, da? What will you choose; a life of loneliness and regret? Wishing that you had had the chance to be with the love of your life? Or a life of happiness and a sense of completion? Think of the late Romulus. Didn't he have a love that he denied himself? You do remember don't you, little comrade?"

Feli did. He remembered how his grandfather would cry when he thought he wasn't looking. He remembered how heartbroken he was that the human he wanted didn't know how he felt. The merman looked down at his tail; he really _did_ like it. The tip of his fin touched Arthur's red. Arthur. Feli met his friend's eyes and saw that he truly wanted this chance. With a sigh he nodded, "Ve~"

"Oh thank you, Feli!" Arthur pulled Feli into a hug, "you won't regret this!" They didn't notice Roderich struggle against Natalya in protest, his violet eyes widening from how readily Arthur was to accept Ivan's deal. Did he even know what he had to give as payment? Knowing Ivan it could be anything!

Ivan chuckled in delight. Arching his back backwards he, playfully approached Arthur, "This is one more thing I must say before we can proceed with the paper work."

"Paper work?"

"Da. I make a point to get all my deals on paper…just in case. Don't worry it's just a familiarity. Mother always did say I would make a great business merman one day," he said with pride. "Anyway, as I was saying, there _is_ the subject of payment. You can't get something for nothing you know."

Arthur panicked, "But I don't have any-"

Ivan waved him away, "I'm not asking for much. Just a token really, a trifle. I can assure you neither will miss it."

"You _can't_ have my box," growled Feli, surprising Arthur.

But the mer-warlock waved his fears away with a smile. "No, no. Don't worry. I know how much the contents of that box mean to you. Besides, I have no use for those kinds of trinkets." Ivan chuckled and made his way to caress Arthur's and Feli's neck, drawing jealous growls from Natalya and Natasha. Paying them no mind, Ivan continued, "No, what I want from you is…your voice."

"Our voice," questioned Arthur, bringing a hand to his throat.

"Da, comrade. No more talking. Singing. Nothing of the sort."

"But," said Feli with a frown, "without our voice, how are we-"

"You'll have your looks," interrupted the devious merman as he ran a hand down Arthur's torso before cupping Feli's face, "your pretty face." Pulling away he chuckled and playfully sashayed his hips, "And don't underestimate the importance of body language, da! The men up there don't like a lot of blabber." Ivan swam towards a large cabinet, "they think a man who gossips is a bore. Yes, on land it's preferred for lovers not to say a word and after all, comrades, what is idle prattle for? Come on! They're not all that impressed with conversation," he began tossing bottles over his shoulder, "True gentlemen avoid it when they can."

Bottles filled with strange creatures, some familiar to Arthur from the old books he used to read from back he was allowed to study magic, began to descend from where Ivan was tossing them over his shoulder. They watched as they fell into a cauldron creating a small explosion. The dark merman swam quickly over and added a few more things from vials his sisters supplied him with, "But they dote and swoon and fawn, on a lover who's withdrawn, it's he who holds his tongue who gets a man. _Come on_ you poor unfortunate souls!"

Feli and Arthur backed up uncomfortably but the Natasha pushed them forward. She smiled at them and said, "Go ahead, make your choice. My brother's a very busy merman and he hasn't got all day. It won't cost much, just your voice."

Arthur looked up in time to see that the smoke had created a vision of Alfred smiling at him with longing. He approached it with a hand out stretched to touch the vision but Alfred's smile became a smirk. "You poor unfortunate souls," Alfred spoke with Ivan's voice before the image evaporated and Ivan's childishly smiling face replaced it. "It's sad but true," he plucked an innocent jellyfish, who had the unfortunate luck to swim by him and tossed it into the cauldron as well.

Roderich whimpered in distress, his glasses fogging up from all the smoke the cauldron was releasing. Lovino panted by the time he arrived at the cave. Grumbling to himself about stupid-fast-swimming- music-loving-bastar-! He froze in mid rant and stared at what was going on before him. Roderich was being restrained by familiar mermaid and his brother and prince were standing before Ivan and his other sister. Lovi wanted to barge in but found that his tail refused to move. His heart thundered in his chest when he saw the dark tailed merman pull out a scroll.

"If you want to cross the bridge, comrades, you've got to pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath and go ahead and sign the scroll," he gave him a pen and turned to his sisters with a wink, "Natasha, Natalya, now I've got em, girls. Your brother is on a roll! **These poor**." Arthur read through the brief contract. " **Un**." He looked at Feli. " **For-**." The brunet gave him a week smile and nodded. Ivan's duel colored eyes darkened with cruel childish malice, "- **tunate souls!"** The contract glowed gold when Arthur signed his name on the dotted line, giving his consent to proceed. The document rolled itself up and cut through the water and into Ivan's hand. His smile turned into a smirk and he turned back to his cauldron, his black tail shimmering and flicking with dark excitement, " **Beluga, sevruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea!** " The blue liquid began to bubble as Ivan waved his hand over it. Lightning and thunder startled the two teen mermen but when they tried to back away, they found that they were encased inside a wall of swirling water and energy. " **Larynxis, glossitis Et Max laryngitis la voce to me!"** Lavender boney hands of energy followed Ivan's when he raised them over his head. The whites of his eyes had gone black making his grin look beyond frightful. His voice took on a raspy tone, and for a brief moment, Arthur thought that perhaps his brother had been right to seal the magic merfolk. "Now, little comrades, sing," he rasped.

Arthur looked to Feli and took his hand. They'd do this together, "Ah-ah-ah-ah," they vocalized, "ah-ah-ah!" Their voice boxes tickled at first and then burned as a purple glow engulfed them. They squeezed each other's hands for comfort and encouragement.

"Keep singing," growled Ivan, his hands maneuvering the large lavender closer to them until forcing them down their throats.

Tears pricked at the two mermen's eyes when they felt fingers digging into their voice boxes but they kept vocalizing. Feli felt his box fall but he couldn't move. He watched as the hand withdrew from his mouth with a spherical ball of energy still vocalizing on its own. Natasha collected it into a sea conch while her brother collected Arthur's into another.

Lovi finally found the will to move when he saw his brother and the prince get absorbed into a large bubble. Roderich squirmed out of Natalya's arms and rushed to pick up Feli's box. Both watched the transformation in horror, not really paying much attention to Ivan's cackling.

Arthur groaned in pain. Bones rearranged themselves, splitting in two. Muscles were growing at a geometric rate followed by new blood vesicles and flesh. Their scales melted from their bodies, the tails slipping down to reveal their new legs. Feli was crying from the burning sensation in his lungs. It was too soon. Too soon. They lost their ability to breathe too soon! The bubble popped and they fell; now not having their tails to help them keep balance. Immediately, Lovino and Roderich swam to them, wrapped their arms around their torsos and raced to the surface.

"Why are you fucking slowing down," screamed Lovino when he noticed Roderich slow in their ascent. "They'll die if we don't get them up there for air!"

"They'll die if we take them up there too fast," retorted the elder merman. "Come on, we're almost there."

"They aren't going to make it!"

"Yes, they will!"

For Arthur, it was the worst few seconds of his life. His body was burning from the neck down. Throat tingled, lungs felt like they wanted to explode in their desire to breathe. He fought against the instinct to take a deep breath underwater, knowing that it could harm his new human lungs. His lower half felt so exposed now that he didn't have his tail to protect his vital regions. The only delight he felt was kicking his new legs and feeling the water pass through his toes. Just a few more seconds. Through his tears he could see the sunlight becoming brighter. And brighter. And brighter. And- He took a gasp of air. His lungs finally relaxing in relief. Beside him he could hear Feli coughing up water but beside that he was fine too. Lovi and Roderich continued to swim. The shore just a short swim away.

* * *

 

"Robert!" Toris looked up from his work. He sat down a plate of food out for his king and took his leave. The sea king didn't bother to acknowledge his younger brother which only angered Christian further. "Damn it, Robert," he growled shoving the small table away. "I'm talking to you."

Robert sighed and lowered his head on his fist, "I _know_. I can hear you."

"What have you done?"

"I've been sitting here for the past few hours. Haven't really conjured any storms though."

"Stop bullshitting me, Bobby. You know damn well what I'm talking about. What did you do to Arthur?!" Christian's tail flickered with anger. His short blond hair stood up as he made his way closer. His green eyes not faltering in their intensity as he stared his brother down.

"You have some nerve," started Robert with a dry chuckle. "Not everyone can look me in the eye after speaking to their king like that."

"I'm not speaking to you as my king, _Robert._ I'm speaking to you as my older idiot brother, who is embarrassingly and ironically living up to the reputation of a red-head. Really? You once told me that when it was your turn to rule that you wanted your reign to be like dads. What changed?"

"I _am_ ruling like dad. What makes you think I'm not?"

"Dad wouldn't have done what you did to Arthur. You think you're doing right by him, let me tell you, you're not! Out of all of us, he probably suffered the most. Mom died before he got the chance to meet her. Dad died a few years later. His mentor and only companion turned out to be a psychotic warlock so he gets banished a few weeks after dad dies. His imaginary friends abandon him after he gets sealed. Berwald and Tino moved to Nordic waters, taking their family and _his_ friends with them. Really, Robert, need I continue? And now, you've forced Lovi's hand and he's going to take the last source of companionship our baby brother has. Feliciano was a blessing for this family and because of your temper tantrum, Lovino is taking him away!"

"Christian, they saved a pair of humans. You know damn well I couldn't let that slide!"

"So what? What harm is there in saving a life? What would you have them do? Leave them for dead? Let them drown? How would that make them any better from the mindless killers you say humans are. They showed compassion and mercy. Those are qualities you should encourage and be proud of." Christian's eyes softened when he saw Robert's shoulders begin to tremble.

The sea king lowered his head in shame, "I-I know, ok?! I know. I know I did wrong and I wish I could go back and stop myself from acting the way I did but I can't. I didn't mean to hurt Feli. I was blind with rage and I wasn't thinking. Artie though, I hurt him the most. He had this cave and-"

"I know."

"What?"

"I know about the cave. So does Kyle. We've been there a few times actually. Arthur wanted to put shelves in there but didn't know how so me and Kyle put them in for him. He didn't say what they were for but we figured. Especially when we'd see them go in with a bunch of crap. Sometimes they'd even take it to their room."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd react this way. Honestly, mate, what's the harm in collecting nick nacks?"

"It's not so much the collecting that bothered me; it was that they would go to the surface to seek out that idiot frog, Francis."

"So?"

Robert gave his brother an exasperated look, "So? Really, ' _So_ '? They could've been seen and caught. Or worse killed by humans! How can you look me in the eye and question that?"

Christian sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I know, why you feel that way. But you have to realize this. They run an equal chance of getting hurt here in the sea. Don't forget that while most magic merfolk aren't holding it against you for their seals, there are a few who are resentful. Not to mention the sharks. They're _really_ resentful. What's to stop them from coming and harming any of us in our own domain? There's only so much you can do to protect Arthur. I know he's the baby but he's not a baby anymore, Bobby. You have to learn to let him go."

"But-"

"No, brother." Christian swam up to his older sibling and pulled him in for a hug. Robert leaned his head on the blonde's shoulder. "You have to let him be happy."

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Cast:
> 
> Prince Eric: America/Alfred
> 
> Ariel: Britain/Arthur
> 
> Flounder: Italy/ Feliciano
> 
> Scuttle: France/Francis
> 
> Sebastian: Austria/Rodrich
> 
> King Triton: Scotland/Robert
> 
> Ursula: Russia/Ivan


End file.
